Nanashi
by Morganeth Taren'drel
Summary: CHAPTER 12 Matters have now turned for the worst, with Trowa captured the pilots are racing against time to get him back alive, but are their attempts being foiled from the inside?
1. Chapter 1

I do Not Own Gundam Wing

A/N: *Huge sigh*… this story was supposed to be a cute one shot story about Trowa finding a baby, it is presently fifty-five page with no end in sight. {{Editors note, yes, she has a lot of it typed, however, it takes time to edit them. This silly life of mine keeps getting in the way, so be patient and you'll get it eventually. I'll try to post a chapter a week}} And it's all because of Midii *glares evilly at Midii* she wasn't even supposed to be in this story. This story has made so many changes that I can't even remember what first inspired me to write it *glares evilly at story*. The worst part of all this is that the characters from this story have been talking to characters in another story I'm writing, and now the story will never be the same again…A man who was supposed to be a simple mercenary now has wings and it the soul heir to a country, destined to marry some girl……*sigh* you get the picture.  

Anyways, feel free to e-mail me with any comments. E-mail is morganeth@canoemail.com

Nanashi

Chapter 1

The day was overcast and smelled distinctly of rain. Blackened clouds raced across the sky as thunderheads grew in the distance, slowly closing them in. No birds sang within the trees this day, as the wind was whipping and tearing at the great limbs of even the largest trees. It was not a day that animals relished being out in the open. Already the leaves of every tree were beginning to show signs of autumns fiery hold. The winds held the crisp freshness that kept some people indoors, where they could allow their imaginations to believe that it was winter, and the first snowfall was on its way.

Trowa moved quietly through the silent park, not really watching the gardens that he passed. There really was not that much to see and his mind was on other things than the weather around them. He was a free man; even now the words seemed strange to him, peace had been restored to the Earth Sphere Unified Nation, and soldiers were no longer needed. He and the other gundam pilots, men he looked upon as brothers, had split up. Everyone perusing their own future, though they had all promised to keep in touch. He was still one of the Preventer, as were the others, and the organisation was not about to be disbanded peace or no peace, for though peace was here it was more fragile than glass.

The gundams had all been destroyed as a lasting sign of peace among the earth and colonies. Trowa decided that he was just as happy to be without Heavyarms. The gundam had served him well during the war, but it also served as a lasting reminder to what he and his friends had been forced to give for the peace. Trowa crammed his chilled hands into his pockets and continued down the twisting path, face expressionless. Relena was at the forefront of the peace that they now had, along with her brother Zechs, though Trowa was positive that Heero was somewhere in the background watching out for her. It was surprising to believe that someone so young had rallied the world about her to bring an end to the madness that had laid claim to the people. 

Trowa was shaken from his thoughts as a new sound filled the air. Stopping where he stood, Trowa carefully glanced about. The wind had picked up speed and he knew it would not be long before the rain came. The trees seemed almost to bend double under the force. He listened carefully trying to hear over the howl of the coming storm, for a moment he thought he had heard nothing at all, but then the sound came again, he paused listening… a baby's cry? Curious Trowa moved in the direction of the cry wondering who would take their child out in such weather.

Moving to a grove of trees, Trowa was sure the baby was somewhere within, he was now truly puzzled. Something about this did not feel right to him and he hesitated to enter the grove. A very small part of him fearing what would happen if he did. But once again the small child's cry filled the air, it tore at his heart to hear the baby so sad and taking a deep breath Trowa moved within the ring of trees. He was not at all surprised to see the baby laying upon the ground however he was shocked to see no parents around the small helpless infant. For some reason this stirred a great anger in Trowa and for once his feelings showed clearly on his face. He moved quickly to the baby, kneeling beside him. The poor infant was barely dressed for the spring let alone the fall. His skin blue with cold, and tears were running down his red face as he continued to cry pitifully. 

Trowa quickly pulled the small form into his strong arms trying to give the baby some of his warmth as he glanced about the clearing for any signs of what may have happened to the child's parents. He found nothing, and the baby began to shiver within his arms. Quickly opening his coat Trowa awkwardly pulled his left arm out of the sleeve and with great care moved the still crying baby between his arm and body, then sipped the coat back up hoping his body heat would be enough for the small foundling. Still kneeling upon the ground Trowa glanced within the folds of his coat to the still whimpering baby just as the rains began to fall like ice against his exposed skin. Rising quickly Trowa moved from the grove slowly. Not at all used to holding babies he feared hurting the small child.

But as the rain began to pick up speed and intensity he knew that he would have to move fast if he wanted to save the babies life. He could easily withstand a storm like this, but the rain cold, as it was, was slowly depleting his body heat, which was something the baby needed to survive. So with a shrug and one more glance down at his small charge Trowa began to run. The rest of the park passed in a blur for him as his long legs carried him towards his destination. He still performed with the circus group and they had made camp outside the small city he had been walking through. He passed few people on his way back to the circus, none really wanting to be out in such a storm. The child within Trowa's arms continued to cry. His little throat was sore from all his previous crying and yet he did not stop, if anything it only made him sound more sad and alone. 

Finally the lights of the circus came into view and Trowa was soaked through. He picked up speed, the baby had gone silent and he feared what that might mean, not wasting time to glance down he simply ran on. The door to Cathy's trailer flew open at his approach. She stood there for the briefest moment, worry clear on her face before motioning him in. He mounted the stairs in one fluid motion and she quickly pulled the door closed behind her restoring the heat to the trailer. She turned back to him then, taking in his wet clothes. 

"You're soaked through, what were you doing out in a storm like this?" Though Trowa may have been taller Cathy played the protective older sister perfectly, with her hands on her hips waiting for his explanation.

Trowa however was given no chance to answer her questions, for it was during that brief pause that the baby began to cry again. Catherine's faces showed her shock at the unexpected sound and Trowa quickly moved to open the front of his coat revealing the whimpering baby inside, eyes tightly shut and one small hand clutching Trowa's shirt. "Someone left him out in the storm." He told his sister quietly, looking to her for help.

Cathy jumped forward, carefully taking the trembling child from her brother's arms. She began to rock him back and forth, trying to calm him down. "Trowa go change out of those wet clothes, and on your way back see if Nancy has any formula and a bottle she can spare." As Trowa silently moved towards the door he could not have been happier that he had Cathy to turn to for something like this. "Oh, and Trowa?" he turned silently, "Don't forget the diapers." 

He moved quickly back out into the storm walking the short distance to his own trailer and changed, not even bothering to turn any lights on. He was finished within minute and was back out into the storm, moving with all haste to Nancy's trailer, she had just recently given birth to twins. The door was opened only seconds after knocking, and the young horse trainer welcomed him in with a warm smile. "Trowa?!" She seemed slightly surprised, "Some in, out of the storm." She quickly moved him inside the warmth of her home and turned to look at him. For the most part, nothing of his expression had changed but those who knew him saw the slight turn of his mouth, which passed for a smile. "What can I do for you?" she spoke in hushed tones not wanting to wake the babies, her husband Tom sat reading the paper and briefly glanced up with a smile.

"Do you have any extra formula a bottle and a few diapers?" he asked softly.

For a moment Nancy looked puzzled but then nodded, "Why?"

"Ask me another time." She smiled seeming to expect such and answer from him; she moved over to the kitchen and opened a cupboard.

"How much do you need?"

"Just enough for tonight." Trowa had no idea how much that would be but hoped it would last until he could go out and get some more.

Nancy chuckled softly as she came back over to him a small bag that held a small jar of white powder a glass bottle and the diapers. "Here mix two tablespoons with warm water, but be careful that it's not too warm, and don't forget to sterilise the bottle first." Trowa nodded his thanks and quickly left heading back to Cathy's trailer. A great peal of thunder tore through the air, even as the lightning stretched its fingers across the sky. 

Silence reigned over Catherine's trailer when he entered she still stood rocking the baby back and forth. He was quiet now and watching her as she cooed softly to him. With out a word Trowa moved to the kitchen and began to prepare the formula as Nancy had instructed. When he had finished he turned with the now warm bottle in his hand ready to give it to his sister, she smiled, "No Trowa, you feed him." The ex-pilot began to protest but she simply laughed softly and with one hand moved him over to the couch. "Your not going to hurt him, don't worry." She took the bottle from his hand and placed it on the table in front of him. 

Carefully she moved the still silent baby to her brother's unsure arms. Trowa looked down watching the small baby as his little hand reached up and grabbed his shirt once more. Looking up he saw Cathy testing the warmth of the bottle. Satisfied that it would not hurt their small charge, she gave it to Trowa showing him how to hold it. Trowa let his emerald gaze travel back to the now happy baby suckling upon the warm formula. Catherine sighed and sat on the table before him, "Who would just leave a baby out like that?"

"I don't know." Trowa said quietly never taking his eyes off of their little foundling, "But I intend to find out." They sat there in silence together watching the small baby. His eyes were even now a dazzling blue, and the hair atop his head was a thick, rich, and brown much like Trowa's. The baby had finished drinking and now Cathy took him back from her brother. Now relieved of the infant Trowa rose and moved back to the door of her trailer.

"Where are you going?" He half turned looking at his sister; she sat now on the couch holding the baby's chin in one hand and gently patting his back with the other. 

"To get my laptop." He ran a hand through his damp hair and silently left. They rains had not at all lessened; if possible they seemed to grow in intensity. They made the world around him appear blurry and non-distinct. He could hear nothing above the roar of the storm, though he was sure the animals were frightened. He made a note to visit them when the baby was asleep. Back within the dark confines of his trailer Trowa turned on one dim light and glanced about. His home was simple and held very little in the way of colour or furnishings, he spent the majority of his time with Catherine at her insistence, but he did not mind making his sister happy. She was slowly trying to mend his world.

Finding the slim laptop Trowa tucked it within his coat and ran back out into the fierce storm. Upon entering his sister's trailer once more Catherine cornered him at the door; the infant resting up against her left shoulder blue eyes searching and a look of worry upon his small face. "Trowa what are we going to call him?"

"He has a name." 

"Yes I know that, but we don't know how long he will be with us…" she left the statement hanging.

"Call him Nanashi." was Trowa's quiet response. Cathy looked at him her face puzzled to see the slightly lost look that came to her brother's eyes but did not push the subject. Nanashi seemed to take notice of Trowa then and began to cry; Catherine tried without success to calm him down but the baby's face crumbled. Trowa moved around his sister back to the couch hoping that the baby would calm if he was not in sight. If anything the cries simply became louder.

Cathy looked over to her brother who was setting up his computer on the table before him. With an impish grin she moved over with the still crying child held close to her breast. Without any warning she placed the baby on Trowa's lap, and almost instantly Nanashi stopped crying, Trowa's face showed how startled he felt, but he did not jump for fear of hurting the baby. "He started crying as soon as you left." She giggled softly at the look her brother gave her.

Trowa sighed looking down into the baby's small face already he looked as though he was going to fall asleep, so the ex-pilot did not push the matter. He simply turned his computer on and hailed the other former pilots he received responses almost immediately.

Noble: Silencer is that you?

Silencer: Yes 

Shinigami: Hey buddy where yah been?

Soldier: What's up?

Dragon: This had better be important.

Shinigami: Why were you busy with _someone else?_

Dragon: Maxwell never forget: I know were you live.

Shinigami: Hey hey, don't get excited Wu-man I was just kidding.

Soldier: What _is the __problem Trowa?_

Silencer: I'm not entirely sure, how are things at the base?

Noble: Quiet 

Silencer: Would one of you run a search through the Preventer current missing persons file?

Soldier: What are you looking for?

Silencer: A baby boy, lost sometime today.

Soldier: Nothing comes up, why?

Trowa sat back for a minute watching the sleeping baby in his lap, and wondering silently why no one was searching for this helpless little boy. Now more than ever was Trowa unsure of what to make of this strange situation.

Silencer: You're sure there has been no recent activity?

Dragon: None, both earth and colonies are silent, why do you feel something's happening? 

Silencer: Forget it, I'll keep you posted. 

Shutting his computer down Trowa looked to his sister who was sitting quietly beside him, "No one filed a report for a missing child."

She looked at him confused, "Why?"

"I don't know. Something's not right." He looked back to the sleeping baby and continued to wonder.

***to be continued***


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: just quickly, I want to thank my new editor Brenda (Yay!!) you've made neekabe's life a lot easier, and the chapters will be up _much _faster now!

*Weeping weeping* I do not own Gundam Wing, and I'll have you know neekabe is making me write this....

Chapter 2

General Kain sat behind his large oak desk, his swivel chair facing the floor to ceiling windows, which displayed a view of the colony before him. He could only marvel at the mastery of the artisans and engineers who had designed such a perfect home, where man was the true ruler over everything, including the unpredictable weather. He had lived his whole life upon the colonies never once visiting earth, which was beneath his notice. 

He was a man in his early forties, his hair only slightly touched with grey, and eyes that could look through a man and see instantly how to use that man to his advantage. He was a man with great ambitions and had the means to put his plans into motion, he answered to no one, and made sure all his men answered directly to him, so closing the racks within his corporation. 

Kain was still undecided as to his feeling of the knew peace that had settled over both earth and the colonies, he did not much care for the Peacecraft girl but did not hate her as others may have. She had given him the chance to focus on bigger and more important things, and for that he did not begrudge her existence. The loss of the gundams he thought was a big mistake, weapons of total destruction could not, in his eyes, be so easily destroyed. It was clear to him that the pilots of the gundams held no respect for the beauty and mastery of their machines. 

He sighed, it was a shame, but also it was an action that once completed could not be taken back, for the only ones who knew everything about the gundams were their pilots, and nothing was known about them. Some felt that Relena Peacecraft knew who the pilots were and how to contact them, though whenever asked she vehemently denied any knowledge of who or where they were. Kain swung back around in his chair when someone knocked upon his door. "Enter."

A small man walked in, he was non-descript, and could be easily lost in a crowed of hundreds, he had the type of face that people tended to over look. He was perfect at what he did, and was worth the money Kain paid him. Argile stepped forward no expression on his plain face only death in his ice blue eyes. "Report." Kain bade him quietly.

"The mission went well." At these words Kain released a breath he had not known he had been holding, "but…"

"What to you mean but?!" Kain slammed his hand down upon the oak deck, they had come too far to risk messing up now, the man before him did not even flinch simply remained impassive.

"A friend of the family somehow got word of the strike and fled with the infant son, we do not know where. I assure you it is not a problem." Argile's voice held nothing as it always did.

"Do you even realise what a problem this child's life will cause? He is the soul-surviving heir to the family's holdings! How can that not be a problem?!" Kain was livid suddenly his standing in the world did not seem quite so sure, for his plan to succeed every child of the Bèovel family had to perish, and now one was still at large in colonies or earth, he could not begin to imagine where.

"General, a search has already commenced, the child will be found and killed."

"Make sure of that, now get out of my sight." Kain turned away as the man bowed slightly and moved towards the door.

"One other thing General." Kain locked his crushing gaze upon the man standing in the doorway, "she also searches for the child." With that the assassin left the now dead silent room.

***

Still the storm raged across the dead silent city though the air about was far from quiet. Thunder deadened any other sound and the lightning struck with such force as to truly make a witness believe the world had gone mad and that this storm would strip the land of everything living. It was midnight and nothing stirred, families slept peacefully dreaming of brighter days and happier things. None saw the creature that moved within the storm, simply another shadow within the tortured night, a creature on a mission…

She scaled the stairs to the motel without a sound, not that it made any difference, considering the scream of the winds. But never the less over the years she had become simply another shadow, and one of the best at what she did. Carefully she moved down the line of doors searching quickly for the one she sought, room 303. She tested the door and was not surprised to find it locked, though well oiled it did not take her long to pick, pausing a moment the young mercenary replaced her lock pick and drew her gun.

In one swift motion she slipped into the room and turned on the light, the scream that followed did not make it past the door. The young woman levelled her gun at the trembling girl who had been sleeping on the bed, "where is he?" she asked her voice low and dangerous. 

"I don't know what you're talking about…" the woman's voice trembled about as much as she did, truly terrified it was a wonder she could speak at all.

"I won't ask again, where did you hide the Bèovel?" the mercenary began to feel her patience slipping but she kept all she was feeling from her face. 

"I'll never give him to you!" She seemed to regain some control then.

"Is that what you think?" the mercenary took a menacing step toward the larger but unarmed woman. "I know he is within the city, and I will find him, things will go better for the both of you, if I know who he's with now."

"I don't believe you!" she shouted back defiantly, "You want him dead like everyone else!"

"If that were true you would already be dead." Snapping the gun back into its holder, the young woman moved back leaning against the door, "look I was hired by your boss to find him, and that means with or without your help. To tell you the truth your no longer useful alive, in fact you're a danger to the entire mission, but that's just the way I see it. So tell me, were is the child?"

"How can I be sure you're telling the truth?"

The mercenary sighed, "How else would I have found you? The corporation does not even know yet who took the child let alone where. I assure you I only mean what's best for the child. Unfortunately whether you believe or not has no bearing, on my mission." She paused for a moment gauging the effect her words had upon the other woman, on the bed the woman continued to stare in silence a light of recognition coming to her frightened eyes.

"Are you…"

The mercenary over road her, "my name means nothing, where is the child?"

"A young man found him in the park and took him I'm not entirely sure where, he seemed to be heading toward the circus. Please whatever you do, promise me you will not harm the child."

"That I promise you." She moved silently from the room then wondering if she should wait for daybreak to find the mysterious young man, but quickly decided to at least scout the area. Not a sound was heard as she once more moved into the shadows, a place that she had become most familiar.

  
  
  
***to be continuted*** 


	3. Chapter 3

Since the other chapter was so short, you get 2 for the price of one this time ^_^

I do not own Gundam Wing

Chapter 3

Trowa stretched his stiff muscles, as he walked towards the lion cages, he had been up most of the night with Nanashi, who refused to sleep anywhere but in his arms, for the first part of the night. The infant was still with Catherine, and had become more used to her, though it was still clear that when he had the choice he would like to be with Trowa. It unnerved the ex-pilot somewhat; that the baby had become so attached to him, he who knew nothing of children and only death and destruction. But another more distant part of him was overjoyed, for it told him that he could be normal, that he could earn the love and trust of another human being.

The storm had passed overnight and the whole world had taken on a fresh clean look, the autumn chill was more dominate in the air, but it did not bring Trowa down as it would some people, he looked forward to winter, and the party Quatre always had. It had become tradition for all the pilots to gather at one of Quatre's estates and spend Christmas and New Years together, and it was a time that everyone enjoyed. As Trowa passed through the circus grounds he nodded his silent greetings to the people he passed who were all now more than comfortable with his lack of speech. 

The lion cages where silent, as Trowa entered they instantly came to life, the great male lion coming to his feet huge grizzled mane make him the appear twice his size. Trowa wasted no time in opening the cage and walking in, the massive male came to greet him warmly, it still unnerved some of the workers how well the lions acted around him even the trainer was not so close to them. But then again Trowa's silent nature seemed to put animals at their ease considering how little they vocalise. Both man and lion moved to the far corner of the cage and lay down, the lion in the corner and Trowa leaning against him, he pulled a paperback novel from his back pocket and began to read. 

Trowa never fully lost himself within the fantasy stories he read, too much of his training had stayed with him for that, always were his ears and part of his mind tuned to his surroundings always ready to give him an early warning, should some danger arise. He knew that Catherine worried about him, what with the nightmares that he continually woke screaming from, and he cursed his weakness for not being able to forget them, which caused him to chuckle internally _I sound like Wufei. But the days of his training, - though granted they were nothing like Heero's - could still not be forgotten, and he could not bring himself to speak of them to anyone not even his sister. He was well aware of how that hurt her though she tried not to let it show, but he was a man of few words and it was impossible to explain what had happened in one sentence._

He became aware then of the footsteps coming towards him, and he began to concentrate on them. They were light and almost completely silent; he instantly labelled them as those of a woman, though he decided silently they belonged to no woman who worked at the circus. He did not move at all only continued to read his book content to allow the woman to believe she had caught him unaware, he was however curious as to what would cause the woman to be moving with such caution. He was actually quite impressed, she was not even moving loudly enough to wake the sleeping lion behind him, whoever she was she knew what she was about.

The figure came into view then, Trowa's breath caught, and before he knew it he had half raised from his resting potion. His book dropped for numb fingers as he took in the face before him, memories from his past stirring to the forefront of his mind. He had never thought to see her again still appearing so small and frail, but he did not miss the hardness around her eyes, that spoke of trials as hard as his own. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, her hair had not changed, soft blonde bangs framing her pixy face her blue eyes starring at him with the same shock he knew his emerald ones held.

"Midii…?" He breathed her name into the silence that had descended over the pavilion. 

"Nanashi" her voice sounded just as disbelieving.

"I am no longer so free." Trowa replied having once more restored blank features to his face.

"Just when I gain my freedom, you lose yours." There was an untold sadness within her voice, "what's your name?"

"Trowa Barton." His own voice was soft and he came fully to his feet walking from the cage to stand before her. He let a look of puzzlement pass across his face because he could not think of how to phrase his question.

"No, I am no longer a spy, and I have not been since the day you found out. My father died shortly after and my brothers were forced into the army where they quickly died, after that they had nothing to hold over me and I left." Her blue eyes were large but no longer innocent as he remembered them being.

For a time Trowa simply stood there, having nothing to say, he had never forgotten the small girl from his past, the only person who had not been scared away by his unusual silence. She had made it clear how she felt about him when they parted company, he an unfeeling solider lost in the war, and she a small girl determined to save her family, by any means necessary. At the time he would have denied having any feeling for the girl whom had betrayed him, but now standing before a young beautiful woman he could not ignore the feelings that passed through his heart and soul. And he had to ask himself, was he still angry with her? He took the moment to consider it, and decided that the betrayal really had not hurt him, it was in the past and though his memories were hard to forget, he had been able to, and move on with his life.

"You and I are more the same now than ever." He leaned against the rails of the cage behind him, folding his arms across his chest. "I never forgot you…" His voice was barely above a whisper as he watched her from the corner of one eye. He looked over to her then, "is the freedom really worth it?" 

"You mock me!" she accused eyes becoming like flint.

"Never," he replied calmly his voice not once rising. "I was never happy as you claimed until recently, and not entirely then either." 

"Even with a name, family, and home you still are dead on the inside." She seemed to sneer the words in his face, but Trowa did not respond, her blue eyes began to shine with her tightly held tears. "Why can't I be like you?!" 

"Would you truly wish to be?" he was slightly surprised at her out burst.

"Yes! If it meant never to hurt again, to feel no remorse or pain," tears fell freely from her eyes now but she did not seem to notice. "I want to forget!" she shouted her anger at its peak.

Trowa stared at her a deep sadness welling up within him, "I wish only to forget." At first she barely seemed to hear him but her head came up and she watched him confused. 

"Trowa!" he swung around at the sound of his name as Cathy entered the pavilion holding the fussing Nanashi, and a bottle in her arms. "Trowa will you please feed him, he likes you more." His eyes swept back to Midii, to gauge what her reaction would be to this awkward situation, her face was however deadpan. Slightly confused he turned back to Catherine about to say no, when Nanashi saw him and with a happy giggle stretched his little arms towards him.

Rolling his eyes slightly Trowa took the now ecstatic baby into his strong arms and gave him his bottle, which he was more than happy to drink from. Catherine seemed just to notice Midii standing quietly off to one side, "Oh who might you be?" 

The small woman stepped forward completely in control once more, "Midii Une." She said calmly extending her hand, to Cathy. 

She took the hand with a warm smile; "I'm Catherine Bloom, Trowa's sister, nice to meet you." She studied Midii for a moment before asking, "Do you live in the city?" 

"No I was actually on my way to find a place to stay." Midii looked back to Trowa who was watching Nanashi in his arms, and a small smile crept across her pale face.

"Why don't you stay with us, there's always extra room." Catherine laid a hand upon Trowa's shoulder and he looked over to the small woman a tiny smile on his lips as he nodded silently, there was still so much he wanted to know.

Midii seemed to think it over, for a moment her eyes wandering about them until they landed on Nanashi who was resting sleepily against Trowa's shoulder, his little head nestled by Trowa's neck. Her smile was genuine as she nodded silently, and once more turned her gaze speculatively on Trowa. 

It was later that afternoon that Trowa found himself alone in his Trailer with Nanashi sitting happily in his arms, from time to time wiggling with delight at something he saw or heard. His little hands were constantly reaching for Trowa's laptop that rested on his knees. He had just sent a message to his fellow pilots and was waiting their response.

Noble: What's up Silencer?

Silencer: I'mn loobking for some more inform ation.

Dragon: You've been around women to long, you're slipping.

Silencer: I have an over active baby in my lap.

Shinigami: What!!!!! Is there something you haven't been telling us?

Silencer: No h its not what you think, I found him in the park bbb yesterday. 

Noble: So that's why you were asking about the missing persons, you really had us wondering.

Soldier: There still has not been a report filed.

Trowa grabbed Nanashi's hands into his own to keep him from hitting the keys anymore, the baby pouted a bit but was more than happy to play with Trowa's larger hands. The longer a report was not filed the more chance that this was not exactly what it appeared to be, and even now Trowa felt that there was something he was missing. It was then that he remembered Midii's reaction to Nanashi, there had almost seemed to be some form of recognition in her eyes, and so he continued his conversation with the other pilots, however this time one handed, the other was occupying Nanashi.

Silencer: Soldier I need you to run another search on a girl named Midii Une.

Soldier: She's a member of a small band of mercenaries that formed during the war, she's gained high rank and quite a bit of respect from the political delegates.

Silencer: Can you find out who she's working for now?

Soldier: I'm not sure.

Noble: What's going on Silencer, what's so interesting about one mercenary?

Silencer: She may know something about the missing baby.

Soldier: Whoever was in charge of hiring her did a very good job, all I have is a name, nothing of what the job was. Devon Draken, does that mean anything?

Noble: I've met the man before he works for the Bèovel family.

Shinigami: I don't think I'm familiar with them.

Noble: There a wealthy family who owns a number of colonies, my family has done business with them for years.

Dragon: So what does this all have to do with the child?

Silencer: I believe Midii knows the answer to that.

He logged off then and sat back Nanashi still playing with his hand was now sucking on his fingers, as he tried to puzzle through what he had been told, he looked down at the small child and spoke without thinking, "who are you?" Nanashi looked up at him and smiled clapping his fat little hands together, and Trowa could not help the smile that touched his face. A knock at his trailer door brought his face back to neutrality. "Come in," he called softly.

He was not really surprised to see Midii, she had been settling into Catherine's trailer and appeared to get along very well with his older sister. Her face showed nothing as she walked over and sat beside him, crystal eyes studying both him and the baby in his arms. Trowa wondered for a moment how to broach a subject he knew so very little about, however he was positive of one thing, she knew who the child was.

"Who is he Midii?"

Her blue eyes shifted back to Trowa, "His name is Erik Bèovel, he is the last surviving member of the Bèovel family, and the soul heir to the families fortune." 

Trowa looked from Midii to Erik and back to her again, knowing fully now that this went deeper than he had first believed, "tell me everything." 

She nodded almost as though she had expected it; "A man by the name of Kain is the second richest man among those colonies that the Bèovel family owns, he is also a man of great ambitions. Though we are not entirely sure as to his full reasons behind the attack we do know that it was to gain control of the colonies, most likely for the money." Her eyes had taken on an icy cast the more she spoke of the man. "It is strange though I cannot think why he would want the money. Anyway Devon Draken, a friend of the family, got word of the attack some how, but was only able to save Erik."

"He hired me shortly afterwards to find the child and bring him to safety, but by then the frightened woman, who had taken Erik had already left him in the park for you to find. You can't imagine my surprise when I found out that you were the one she had seen."

"I think I can." Trowa's eyes had softened slightly as he watched her, something passed through her eyes at his words but it was gone before he could name it.

"It just so happens that I also have a personal score to settle with Kain, for after doing some research, I found out that he actually, has the title General, and is the very same man that forced me to become a spy and killed my father and brothers." She looked away as she spoke the last of these words not meeting his eyes.

Again Trowa's words came without thought; "I never blamed you for what happened back then." Trowa thought about it for a moment putting himself in Midii's position, and very quickly decided that he would do anything for Catherine. Besides he already had, he had gone back to war to protect her life, when he could not even remember who he was – or so he had been told – and was that any different from what Midii had done?

"I never forgot you either…" her eyes where partially covered by her blonde bangs making her appear mysterious. "You look right, with a baby in your arms." Her words were barely above a whisper but he had heard them loud and clear, it made him wonder if she still meant what she had said all those years back or had it just been a passing feeling. His thoughts must have been clear in his eyes for she laughed softly and looked directly at him. "I meant what I said." 

Trowa slowly moved towards her, in his mind not really sure what it was he planed to do, but acting more on feeling than thought, which was a first for him. In his mind Heero's words played clear and true, _Always follow your emotions. She looked into his eyes and saw what was there, her eyes never once questioned him, she simply accepted his kiss, with an open heart, and returned the love. Trowa was surprised to find that he loved her in return, so new was the emotion that at first he had not known what it was, but as he continued to kiss her Trowa knew that there was nothing he would not do for her, and nothing he would deny her._

They parted finally both looking breathless and surprised neither expecting the other to return their feelings, not after so many years, and the circumstances of their parting company. But the love that they had each secretly harboured for the other had now been returned, and they could only sit there and watch each other in silence their eyes telling all. Trowa did not know for how long they sat there but they broke eye contact when there came a knock at his door, Catherine came in shortly after a small smile one her face as she looked at her brother and Midii. The smaller woman blushed slightly, which only made Cathy smile more. "Trowa you have to get ready the show's going to start soon."

Trowa bit back a curse he had lost track of the time, he handed Erik to Midii the small child immediately started to cry but to everyone's surprise she was able to calm him quickly. Without looking back Trowa ducked into his room and changed into his costume, grabbing his mask as he left, Midii and Catherine were waiting by the door when he re-emerged. Midii gave him a small smile, "I'll watch the show." He nodded silently a small smile playing on his own lips as she moved away to find a good seat in the bleachers.

As Trowa stood stock still allowing Catherine to throw her daggers at the outline of his body, his emerald eyes scanned to the packed seating around them. The crowed was at the edge of their collective seats as Cathy brought forward another dagger, as always Trowa never flinched. _Thunck, right next to his ear, so close he could feel the flat of the blade pressing against his skin. He was aware that even after many months of performing, Catherine was still unnerved when he would not keep his eyes on the approaching weapon. She had often asked him,__ what if I miss? To which he had calmly replied __I trust you. His eyes flickered to her for a brief second before resuming, his watch of the bleachers._

The tent was packed, as always, small children gasping at the scene before them, Erik was not unlike the other children that filled the pavilion though he seemed more interested in the man sitting beside Midii than on anything else. And likewise the man smiled down at the blonde baby, and even took Erik into his arms at Midii's nod. Trowa found it odd that seconds later the child was crying and reaching for Midii, but when he took a closer look at the man sitting beside Midii he noticed that although the similarities were not great. It would be easy for a small baby to mistake this stranger for himself. 

The performance ended with a thundering of applause, to which Trowa bowed along with Cathy, his face as always deadpan. He often noticed a shiver run up the spines of the audience whenever he fixed his emerald gaze upon them. The contrast of his smiling mask and dead eyes, was one of the reasons people kept returning to the show, he was the clown that laughed at nothing other than death. He briefly locked eyes with Midii before moving back stage along with his sister. Trowa lay one hand upon Catherine's shoulder before moving towards his trailer, to change.

His trailer was dark and cold, but he paid it no mind as he moved to his room. Trowa stood by his dresser for a moment holding carefully within his hands the smiling mask. It was the only true smile he had ever worn, and it was not even his, he put the mask down and looked up to the mirror; _what does that say about me? He did not much care to think of an answer. Trowa changed into a lose fitting pare of pants that he slept in and moved back into the main part of his trailer just as Midii was walking in._

She shivered, "It's freezing in here how can you stand it dressed like that?" Trowa noticed for the first time that he was without a shirt, and instantly could feel a bright flush creep up onto his face. He made a move for his room without looking at the small woman, though he could feel her eyes upon him. Midii sighed in disgust and grabbed his arm; "You could just turn on the heater." He looked at her in surprise, not sure what to say or do, she simply smiled.

He moved over to the thermostat and turned the heater on, Midii's eyes still seemed to fallow his every move, though he was surprised to find that he did not really mind. She came up behind him her feet almost completely silent, Trowa did not move at first, but could not stop from flinching when Midii's small fingers made contact with an old scare that ran the length of his back, "What's this scare from?"

Trowa glanced over his shoulder at her his eyes and face blank, "I don't know, it's been there for as long as I can remember." He closed his eyes, the mention of the scare caused images to flash to the forefront of his mind, but they were to blurred for him to make out.

 Midii snuggled under his arms her eyes sparkling as she leaned against him, she seemed to notice instantly that he wished to speak no more on the subject. With one of Midii's small arms wrapped about his waist Trowa found himself being led towards the couch, still unsure of what to make of the situation he did not fight her. "Are you hungry?" he nodded silently from where he sat and watched as Midii began to search the cupboards of his small kitchen. "Do you think that we could slip into town tomorrow?" She looked over her shoulder, her small hands carefully pulling a glass jar from the cabinet.

"Yes." He replied softly his emerald eyes watching her graceful movements, "Why?" 

"We need some things for Erik." She continued to busy herself with making them a dinner, and he continued to watch, finally she stopped moving and without turning spoke, "You know Trowa it's impolite to stare." For the second time in one night a blush spread across Trowa's face, he was about to protest she had been starring at him just as much, but her laughter stopped him. "I know what your thinking, but it's different when girls do it."

Trowa had no reply to that; he simply folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes taking a moment to reflect on all that had happened in the past two days. It felt as though a week had gone by since he had first laid eyes upon Midii and yet barely any time had passed. He glanced quickly at the small woman, who was she? He wondered silently, certainly not the same little girl he had met so many years ago, but at the same time she had changed very little. He would never forget the day she had told him, she could never be as happy as he was, Trowa at that time had never known true happiness, and perhaps he still had not. But maybe these feelings that passed through him when he kissed her or even looked into her blue eyes was the happiness she spoke of. Perhaps only when they were together could they both experience the happiness that others went through their whole lives feeling. He did not know the answer to any of his questions.

"You're not falling asleep on me are you?" her voice was so close, but he did not jump. Trowa opened his eyes looking into hers and found those feeling rushing through him, in over powering waves. "Come on" she pouted, "say something." Trowa cocked an eyebrow and took her into his arms laying his lips gently over hers, through her Trowa was able to smile. They parted and Midii seemed quite pleased with the results, though she quickly moved back into the kitchen.

"Do you not think it necessary to get Erik back into Draken's custody?" Trowa asked watching her once more.

"No not yet, I want to see what Kain's next move is first, it will be safer for everyone if we wait a few days before we go running back to those colonies." He nodded silently agreeing with her assessment of the situation. 

They sat down to a surprisingly ornate meal considering the foodstuffs Trowa kept in his trailer, which was to say very little. They said very little simply enjoying having one another for company. "This was wonderful," Trowa said softly drawing a small blush from the woman sitting across from him. Once the meal was finished they sat together dimming the lights; Midii curled up beside him with one of his arms draped across her shoulder. Trowa was rather surprised to find himself like this, he had never expected to feel this way about anyone.

Midii left for Catherine's trailer shortly after, leaving Trowa alone to consider again all that happened. He moved to his room shutting off the lights and turning of the heater. But he found that the moment he closed his eyes for sleep images of Midii filled his mind and he could find no rest. She seemed so small and frail and yet she had earned the respect of high-ranking officials as a good and trust worthy mercenary. She had made it through the war and survived when so many had not; she was a fighter, a woman who had taken lives in the past and knew that the same would be done in the future. But at the same time there was compassion in her eyes that told Trowa she would not pull the trigger on just a whim.

Morning came to find Trowa unmoving the entire night, he did not look tired as some people would when they did not find sleep,. It took more than one night to do that to him. Rising he showered quickly and dressed, not bothering with breakfast he left his trailer and moved out into the cool morning air. His breath steamed before him, but he gave no other signs that it was cold. The sun shone brightly in the morning sky trying with all it's strength to give the world what heat it could, unfortunately the efforts were in vain.

He moved to Catherine's trailer and knocked softly upon the cold metal door. Trowa did not have to wait long for the door to be opened, he was met with Midii's smiling face, and Erik lay within the circle of her arms a blanket wrapped snugly about him. Midii came down the steps and stood before him for a moment before slipping her arm through his as she began to walk towards the small city. 

For the next hour Trowa found himself within one baby store and then another, as Midii picked out the things that they apparently needed; although he was the one to pay for them. Though his arms where laden, with both bags and boxes Midii always found a small crook to fit her hand in. They made a day out of the trip stopping for lunch at a small café; Midii seemed to be enjoying the comments other women gave her about how beautiful the baby was. And she always looked to him, a small smile dancing across her faces as if she saw something none else could.

They returned to the circus late, Trowa now truly tired did not stay long at Cathy' trailer, he simply dropped the packages off and moved to his own home. This night sleep did come, though his dreams where not pleasant, they were nightmares of his past, things that had happened to him so long ago that they were mere blurred images. But he could feel the fear, and uncertainty, it was a time of his life he did not want to fully recall. His sleep that night was not peaceful, he fought an unseen war as he tried to keep the memories from becoming clear, and no matter how hard he fought a name almost became clear.

Thankfully morning came…

***to be continued***


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. 

Not much to say. Hope you enjoy this! Email morganeth@canoemail.com with anything you feel like mentioning ^_^

Chapter 4

It was almost a week sense Midii had first appeared, and still they had seen no sign of the man Kain or any of his men. Though Trowa wanted to see this to its end, he still agreed with Midii's reasoning and was willing to wait a few more days. What he was not willing to wait for was Erik to fall asleep, about three days after Midii's arrival, he had decided that he would sleep nowhere but in Trowa's arms. Three days after that, and even Trowa could not get the fussy baby to sleep. Trowa himself had not found enough hours of sleep for quite some time, though he tried not to let it show.

Erik squirmed and cried in his arms, Trowa had tried everything he could think of to put the baby to sleep but nothing worked. He was sitting on the floor of his dimly lighted trailer, mind numb. Finally he simply placed Erik on the floor beside him, Trowa let his eyes slide closed for a moment, he knew nothing of babies and yet it was to him that Erik turned, he could not help but wonder why? His eyes snapped open when Erik began to cry and he could barely contain a sigh from escaping his lips. 

The young baby had managed to get himself up on his hands and knees and was trying to make it over to where Trowa's flute lay, but his small legs would only take him backwards, much to his anger. Trowa took pity on Erik and brought him up into his lap, he then reached for the flute and brought it to his lips. Erik was instantly enthralled by the sweet melody, his small hands reaching for the shinny instrument, but instead of taking hold of the gleaming metal, his fingers touched the music that for so many was the window into the soul.

Trowa did not know how long he played, losing himself within the music that, he was creating as he went he found the music a release one that he presently needed. He wrapped the melody about him, allowing his heart to soar. When finally he did stop Erik had fallen fast asleep, his small head resting against Trowa's chest. Careful not to wake him Trowa moved the small child into the bassinet that Midii had picked out, and once more sat back letting his eyes close.

He was aware of the door opening and he became instantly cautious, all weariness forgotten, his emerald eyes focused in on Midii's slight form as she came to kneel beside him, her blonde hair glistened in the soft light and her eyes were filled with concern. She looked at him for a moment before brushing her fingers through his bangs; she let her hand rest against his forehead for a moment before trailing it down his cheek to rest on his neck. His pulse raced at her touch and he was sure she could feel it, beating against the soft flesh of her palm. "Your exhausted, don't worry I'll stay and watch him in case he should wake." She kissed him softly, and then stood drawing him to his feet.

Trowa moved into the darkness of his room, sleep seeming at this moment to be very appealing, he lay beneath the warm blankets his head resting against the pillow. Sleep was almost instantaneous.

***

Midii sat upon the couch reading a fantasy book she had found lying about, Erik still slept peacefully sucking on his small thumb. Though try as she might Midii could not focus on the words, in her mind she only saw Trowa, sitting upon the floor holding a silver flute in his hands. It had been in those few moments that she had seen a side of him that she had not truly been sure was there. She had seen young man, not the soldier that had fought during the war, or the clown that could not smile. She had simply witnessed Trowa with no barriers in place; the man she could feel was there when they kissed. 

She looked up form the page of her book eyes questioning, a new sound had filled the otherwise silent room, and it sounded as though Trowa was thrashing in his sleep. Midii dropped the book she had been holding and moved into the other room. Trowa lay upon his bed face contorted in some form of fear, as his muscles knotted against whatever it was that he fought. She moved to his bedside and sat down; "Trowa" she whispered his name softly, but he seemed too deep within his nightmare to hear.

Midii lay her hand once more upon his forehead, and his muscles seemed to loosen somewhat, but seconds later his head thrashed out from under her hand, as he continued to fight his unseen battle. She wished she knew what it was that tormented the young man before her, she realised then just how young he was, Trowa had always seemed years older than her but she saw now that the difference was not that great.

Trowa's lips parted, but nothing was heard, he threw his head back and his voice seemed to return, "no…no…" Midii could barley make out his words, but they sounded so desperate that she acted without thought. Leaning down she kissed Trowa softly, feeling nothing at first, but then his body relaxed and he grew silent. But Midii did not leave his side then; she sat there watching him until morning, in her mind protecting him from any other nightmares.

***

Trowa was aware, the moment he awoke that Midii was there, sitting beside him, watching. He did not immediately open his eyes; his mind still clouded with the nightmares of the past. Trowa had felt Midii's presence during the night, as she cast away his dreams with one soft kiss, but now part of him wished she had not, he did not like the idea of Midii seeing him so vulnerable. And now he almost regretted not finding out what those memories were that haunted him, he no longer wanted them hanging over his head. 

Opening his eyes Trowa was met with a sight that took his breath away, Midii leaned over him, her soft blonde hair flowing loosely about her small shoulders. The early morning sun fell upon her face with a glowing radiance, giving her the look of an angel. Trowa propped himself up on one elbow, meeting her mysterious gaze with his own. He watched the corners of her mouth twitch into a small smile,. Midii quickly leaned in and stole a kiss before rising from the bed and leaving the room. She paused for a moment at the door laughing at the puzzled look that passed across his face. 

***

Midii moved out into the main room still chuckling softly, she loved surprising Trowa like that, when she did she could see the innocence in his eyes that the war had not yet taken away. He may have known how to handle a gun or mobile suit, but women were completely different. She briefly knelt by Erik's crib where he thankfully still slept undisturbed. Midii moved towards Trowa's small kitchen and began searching the cupboards for something to make for breakfast. She no longer found it surprising that Trowa was so thin. There was almost nothing to eat in the entire trailer. 

She managed to find a few things, and began to create a quick meal; she heard the shower water begin to run, just as Erik awoke. Midii moved over to the small child and gave him some toys to play with, he squealed in delight plump little hands reaching for the stuffed animal she offered him. As she turned back to the counter there came a soft knock at the trailer door, "come in," Midii called softly. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Catherine walked in, her eyes seemed drawn and worried. 

"Have you been out yet this morning?" she glanced out the window briefly before moving further into the trailer.

"No, Trowa just woke, why?"

"There are a bunch of men searching for you and Erik, they have your pictures." Catherine moved over to Erik and lifted him into her arms, hugging him close, "What's going on?" 

Midii turned from her work at the counter and locked eyes with Trowa's sister, she kept everything from her face her expression closely guarded, but her eyes could not completely hide the emotions that ran through her. Trowa walked from the bathroom, his eyes locking on Midii's he seemed to know instantly what was going on. He moved over to the door taking up a watch through the window. 

Trowa gazed out the pane of glass, into the early morning. He instantly caught sight of the men Cathy had been speaking of, they moved about the camp in plain clothing, trying to blend in. This however made them more conspicuous than if they had been wearing blinking lights. Turning back around he folded his arms across his chest and looked at the two women that stood facing each other. "You'd best tell her everything." 

Midii nodded and moved towards the couch taking a seat, her eyes growing distant for a moment as if deciding where to begin. "Over a week ago, a man named Kain ordered the death's of a very influential family, Erik's family to be exact."

"What?" 

"Were fairly sure he had them killed to gain control of the colonies that the Bèovel owned, but with Erik still alive, he cannot take control. I'm sure that Erik's father had some sort of back up plan should anything like this happen. Anyway, a man named Devon Draken sent me to find Erik and bring him safely back to the colonies, however I did not think moving would be wise until I could see what Kain's next move would be." She paused and glanced at Trowa, "but I may have waited too long."

"I don't understand who's Kain." 

"A general from the war, a man from my past." Midii rose and came to stand beside Trowa, "how many?"

He shifted his head slightly peering out the window, "about twenty. They're systematically working through each tent and trailer, taking only a few minutes each time." His emerald eyes took Midii in, "they don't know where you are or they would have been here by now." Trowa paused for a moment seeming to count in his head, "take Erik into my room there's a crawl space under the bed, wait there." She nodded and, within seconds Trowa and Catherine were left alone.

"Trowa?" she sounded confused, "there's no crawl space in the trailer."

He gave her the briefest smile, "perhaps at one time."

Trowa moved to sit beside his worried sister, his mind preoccupied with the different options that remained open to him, it was too dangerous for Midii to stay here any longer. But at the same time all the airports would most likely be under heavy guard, it did not take him long to make his decision. "What does all this mean?"

"Nothing yet." He rose from his seat and moved towards the door even before the men outside had knocked, Trowa filled the doorway with his tall form and stared down at the uniformed men.

A man, whose face was one that could be easily lost within a crowd, raised as sheet of paper that held pictures of both Midii and Erik. In a low and nondescript voice he asked, "Have you seen either of them?"

Trowa took a moment to study the pictures, his face showing nothing, after a few seconds time he shook his head, "I don't think so."

The man searched Trowa's face but could find no lie within his emerald eyes; "Do you mind if we search?" Trowa silently stepped aside, as had every other person in the circus; the man's uniform seemed to resemble someone in a position of authority, and he had decided from the start that he would do nothing to jeopardise Midii's safety. The men moved into the small trailer separating to search every conceivable hiding spot, on one man confronted Catherine with the photos, but she shook her head, her eyes taking on a confused look. In less than a minute the men were finished and on their way, though they looked less than pleased.

Trowa moved to his room and called softly to Midii, his mind was racing she would no longer be safe here within the circus, if even one person made the connection and told the men that she was with him. He knew right way that he could not keep the ground clear of blood. Midii stepped from her hiding place eyes determined as she walked in front of him, "What are we going to do?"

"We're leaving tonight." They had to get Erik back into Draken's custody, and then eliminate Kain, to protect the fragile peace that Relena had worked so hard to restore.

"How can we?" Midii inquired moving once more out into the main part of the trailer, "they're most likely watching all the airports."

Trowa smirked slightly, "Not the one I'm taking you to." Catherine was seated upon the couch hands clasped together, eyes locked upon them.

"You're leaving aren't you?" her voice was low and filled with emotion. Trowa winced internally not wanting to confront his sister in this way. 

"We don't have any other choice." He ventured carefully as he stood in front of her small form.

"No more," she whispered softly, "Dammit Trowa You promised No more!" she jumped to her feet tears flying from her eyes as she faced off with her brother.

Trowa sighed in pain, "So long as someone threatens the peace, I will have to fight." His voice was calmly resigned to his future no matter how he wished it otherwise. 

But Catherine was far from that accepting, "Send someone else! You've given enough, they can't take anymore from you!" her hands moved to her face as she could no longer control her tears, "they can't…" Trowa moved forward wrapping his arms about her shaking form. "…I thought it was over this time…" she wept into his shirt.

He stroked her auburn hair softly but he knew his words would offer her no comfort, "Nothing has started yet, but we have to stop it before it does." 

Cathy shook her head as her small shoulder's hunched together trying to steady her sobs, "I don't care…I don't want to lose you again." Trowa hugged his older sister close resting his head against hers, hoping and praying that she could understand how necessary this mission was. Silent minutes dragged by as both Trowa and Midii held their breath waiting, finally Catherine stepped back from his warm embrace, her eyes red but dry, her face filled with both sadness and great worry.

"When will you be leaving?" she asked in a barely perceivable voice.

"Tonight." He replied gently.

"Don't leave without saying goodbye." With that she ran from the trailer. Trowa ran one hand through his hair suddenly feeling very tired. Midii came up beside him and slipped her arm through his in a silent gesture of support. The rest of Trowa's day was spent making small trips to his car, bring the supplies that they would need for their trip. He and Midii needed very little it was Erik that required the majority of the items he was forced to pack.

It was late in the evening that Trowa finally led Midii into his bedroom, moving towards the window he carefully slipped out landing without a sound. He then turned and took Erik from Midii's arms and stepped back allowing her to slip down beside him. It was Trowa sixth sense that alerted him to the approaching men, as he had expected they had not been satisfied when they could find neither Midii nor Erik, and had remained around the camp figuring that the two they sought would have to make an appearance sometime. 

Trowa acted without thought, he turned and pinned both Erik and Midii to the Trailer wall he caught one brief questioning look from Midii before his lips fell over hers. Thankfully Erik remained silent within his arms, Midii however did not miss the opportunity. She twined her arms about his lowered neck and deepened the kiss. Trowa's pulse raced and he found it harder and harder to watch the men that passed, his attention continually being drawn back to the small woman in his arms, who now had his heart firmly within her hands. 

The men who walked by gave them only briefest glance before moving on; _they're fools Trowa thought darkly, though his feelings could not stay dark for long with Midii's fingers trailing through his hair. Finally he pulled back finding his breath gone, Midii pouted slightly but seemed more than pleased. He gave Erik over to her, the small child smiled brightly up at both of them, still blessedly silent. "Go to the car, I'll be there in about five minutes." She nodded and faded into the shadows._

Trowa did not look back as he too blended into the darkness that had for so many years been his ail, though he was not nearly as comfortable within the shadows as Heero, they had served him well and could never betray him. Within seconds he was standing in front of Cathy' trailer, none knowing he was there, his movements had passed completely unnoticed. He stood within her trailer after only the briefest knock, if she had seemed to accept his decision that morning he knew now that it had been a lie. Her eyes were red from crying and her face looked pale and drawn.

She rose from her seat wiping her eyes quickly, trying to compose herself in front of him. Trowa pulled her into the circle of his arms, unsure what he could possibly say that would make any difference to her; no words came to him. They stood there for a moment Trowa stroking both her back and hair trying to reassure her, Cathy crying into his chest. "I'm just so afraid…" her voice was slightly muffled, and Trowa had a hard time catching what she was saying.

"…I don't want to lose you again, Tri…" she gripped his shirt in her hands pressing her head against his chest as she drew in a shuddered breath. She stepped back then her hands once more wiping her eyes, as she looked at him Trowa had the feeling she was not seeing him but someone else. She did not give him the chance to question her, for she reached down and handed him a duffel bag that held Midii's stuff she then offered him and weak smile, "Go she's waiting for you."

Trowa lay one hand on his sister's cheek before turning to leave, once outside he took a brief moment to gaze up at the starry sky, and he saw within its diamond depths the peace Relena had so lovingly forged for them. He also saw the threat to their peace and could not control the anger that surged through him though he kept his face blank. He and the other pilots had given more than any other to see this time of peace come about, and any who thought to destroy their hard work better truly want it, because they would find it very hard to change their minds in Hell.

***to be continued***


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Gundam wing. 

If anyone wants to know when I update, just leave a note in your review or send me an email at morganeth@canoemail.com whatever's easiest for you ^_^ and you can send any comments there as well =P

Chapter 5

Trowa slipped back into the shadows and made his way cautiously to his car; if they did not meet with any unseen obstacles they would be able to make their destination by tomorrow afternoon. Trowa breathed a small sigh of relief when he reached his car and found both Midii and Erik waiting for him. He did not even realise he had been worried until he saw the car. As he sat behind the wheel Midii turned to him, "Where are we going?"

A dozen different responses entered his mind, but all involved long explanations, and he was not really in the mood to talk just yet so he settled on the easiest, "somewhere safe." Midii chuckled softly as if she had expected such an answer but for now at least she did not question him. Trowa roared down the less known back roads staying away from any well populated areas. He and Midii said very little on the drive preferring the silence and each other's company, however the same could not be said for Erik who kept up a steady stream of gibberish. 

The night passed into morning and still Trowa did not stop, they still had a long way to go before they were safe and so he continued to drive at a recklessly fast pace. "How much do you know of this Draken?" he asked softly, the sun was already rising high in the sky and Erik slept in Midii's arms, her eyes too were closed, giving her the look of an angel.

Her blue eyes fluttered open and she looked over to him, "Not much, I'd never met him until the day he hired me. About all I know is what the general public knows, he's well respected on the colonies and has served the Bèovel family for many years."

Trowa nodded silently having already known all that she had told him, "How was it possible that he caught wind of Kain's plan?"

"Kain established himself years ago on those colonies, working up money to build a massive corporation, that produces everything from vehicle parts to clothing. His movements have been carefully thought out before hand, and he made his integration so slowly that none knew he had a finger in almost every business until it was too late." 

Midii looked down to Erik in her lap, "once he had gained almost total control of one colony he moved on to another. He was never openly hostile, but those that opposed him had a strange way of disappearing. He was able to beef up a lot of extra cash during the Eve wars and Mariemaia's attempt at a coup d'êtat by supplying weapons and mobile suits. He kept his working covert and other than suspicion no charges can be brought against him, he's covered everything, the man's a professional."

"It's strange though I've known him for many years, and not once has he been this bold. He built his corporation under the Bèovel family, and though my sources tell me he was not pleased with the way Erik's father ran things, he was far too deeply woven into the colonies to risk over throwing them." Midii smiled slightly, "but I digress. Draken has lived on the colonies for his whole life, he is a very influential man, and has been watching Kain for many years now. It would be completely natural for him to have men on the inside, but come to think of it he was never really clear as to how he found out."

"It all make's me wonder if we're missing something."

"We'll find out when we get Erik back to the colonies. Trowa are you sure you don't what to stop for a while?"

Trowa shook his head, "We're almost there." Even as he spoke the words the thick forest that had surrounded them for most of the trip began to give way to the rolling landscape of a magnificent city. Seeming to defy time with its awing splendour as it had before the war, the Cinq kingdom stood. The home of the former Queen of the world Relena Peacecraft, this beautiful city was a testament to the whole world that the war could not strip the world of her past.

As they drove down a quiet road Trowa nearly sighed in relief, finding his eyes tired from the long day of driving, but they had made it. Their enemy completely unaware of their location, soon however it would no longer matter. Turning up a gracefully curving drive Trowa's emerald eyes fell upon Quatre's home, three stories of magnificently carved red marble, this was one of many, in both the earth and colonies, symbolising Quatre's wealth and standing. He along with Relena had done much for the world and colonies, though he never thought of himself as anything more than an ordinary young man.

Trowa parked the car, and with a brief glance at Midii opened his door, "You know Mr. Winner?" He only smiled as he climbed from the cramped interior stretching his stiff muscles. Midii soon followed glancing at the large home, with Erik resting on one hip, one small hand gripping the front of her shirt while the other played with her blonde hair. "I would never have thought you had such high connections." She said softly, shifting to look at him.

He smiled again, noticing that the action had somewhere along the way become rather easy, at least where Midii was concerned, "Strange how things work out." He looked back to the house and remembered the first time he had met Quatre on the battlefield, and he had to smile slightly. He had been as antisocial then as he was now, at least with people he did not know, but Quatre had seen around all the barriers to Trowa the person he hid from everyone, even himself. He was shaken from his thoughts as the large oak doors to the house opened and Iria's small form came rushing out.

With a delighted laugh she threw herself into his arms hugging him close, Trowa's arms circled about her slim waist. "What a surprise, Quatre never said a word about your coming."

"That's because he doesn't know." Turning Trowa motioned for Midii to come stand beside him, she did and at the same time slipped her arms through his, as she smiled warmly at Iria. "Iria, this is Midii Une." The two women shook hands, Trowa had to keep himself from rolling his eyes as Iria looked to Erik and then between the two of them, he moved quickly to put a stop to her obvious line of thought. "I'm sure you've been watching the news, his name is Erik Bèovel." That was more than enough said Iria looked to him then her smile gone.

"You came at just the right time, then. The others are already here as well as Devon Draken."

"What?"

Iria looked slightly puzzled by his outburst, she shrugged, "Heero, Duo, and Wufei came from the Perventers base just yesterday and Draken arrived… I believe it was three days ago." Trowa glanced over to Midii.

"Why would he come here?" he asked softly.

"There's only one way to find out." Midii replied looking back towards the house.

Iria smiled again, "Come on they don't even know you're here yet." She led the way into the massive house, all the while Midii walked with her arm through his, her head leaning slightly against his shoulder. Trowa was far from minding, though he was not entirely sure he wanted to know his friend's reactions, especially Duo's.

"Are you a member of the Perventers?" Midii inquired.

"From time to time." Before they were anywhere near the living room, Trowa could hear Duo; his laughter filling the otherwise silent halls, it would be good to be back among friends again. But right now his mind was filled with questions that needed answering, he felt that he could not begin to comprehend how deep this plot went. They rounded the corner, and all conversation creased as Iria, Trowa and Midii entered the room.

"Trowa!!" Duo came to his feet rushing forward hand outstretched, "where yah been?!" 

Trowa gave his talkative friend a smile, he noticed that instantly almost every eye had fallen on Midii, and they did not seem to miss the way her arm was looped through his. Trowa stepped forward, "Midii this is, Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Chang Wufei, and Quatre Winner." She smiled, but this was not enough for Duo, who bowed forward taking her hand and kissed it, he then looked up smiling disarmingly at her.

Quatre came to his feet then; "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Une."

"Please just Midii." 

He smiled warmly then looked to Trowa, "Have you been following the news?" he silently shook his head. "They say almost nothing of how they died, but my sources tell me it was professional, one bullet each." 

"That doesn't surprise me, Kain only ever used the best, and considering his situation on the colonies he would have wanted to be sure. However what I want to know is how Draken found out." Midii looked about the room for the man but he was not present.

"He received a call about five minutes ago, he should be back anytime now." Quatre gestured for them to take a seat, Trowa moved over to one of the over stuffed couches and sat down, Midii leaned against him a silent hint that she wanted one of his arms around her shoulders. Duo wasted no time in taking Erik from her arms, and the baby seemed more than pleased with his new friend.

Trowa turned to Heero, "How's Relena?"

"Worried," the Prussian eyed pilot of the Wing Zero replied, "She's afraid all the work was for nothing." 

"I really don't think his goal is world domination, that's not the way Kain thinks, having control of those colonies, will be more than enough to satisfy him." Midii said letting her eyes wander about the lavishly furnished room. 

"You're aquatinted with this man?" Wufei asked looking slightly surprised. Midii nodded but gave no specifics.

Duo was presently 'flying' Erik about the room, even making the aeroplane noises; he flew the small child in front of Wufei and proceeded to shoot down the other pilot with his 'baby plane'. "You're lucky Duo" Midii laughed, "He really hasn't liked anyone other than Trowa." 

The ex-pilot smiled brightly, but winced as Erik took hold of his braid, giving it a good yank. "What can I say babies are drawn to me."

"And why do you think that is?" Quatre asked trying to hide a smile.

"Perhaps it's the similar, intelligence level?" Wufei put in just as they all knew he would, even Duo with his back turned had long before mouthed the answer. 

"Sorry about that Master Quatre." All heads in the room turned as Draken entered, he was a man in his early fifties with a kind face and gentle air about him. 

Quatre rose to his feet meeting the older man at the door, "Don't worry about it, Draken I'd like you to meet Trowa Barton, I'm sure you already know Midii, and Erik." The older man nodded briefly to Trowa until his eyes fell upon Erik, and relief washed over his aged features.

He sighed and moved over to the small child taking Erik into his arms, "I knew he would be safe." Erik watched Draken for a moment his face serious then he began to cry, his small hands reaching for Trowa. 

Midii reached for him, and gently took the baby into her arms, "I think he's tired." She passed Erik to Trowa and instantly the tears stopped, he breathed raggedly and gripped Trowa's shirt in his little fist. They all retook their seats, and for a moment silence reigned over the whole house.

"Why is it that you came here, would it not have been safer to wait in the colonies for Midii to return?" Trowa asked not bothering to waste time with small talk.

"Perhaps, but you have to understand, right now the position of the Bèovel colonies is tenuous at best. Kain almost succeed in his plot but the fact that Erik is alive means he cannot truly take over the colonies." The older man replied relaxing in his chair. 

"You still haven't answered my question, it was mere chance that I found Erik and brought him here. There's no way you could know that Midii was going to meet you here." Trowa draped one arm around her small shoulders at her silent request.

"No, that's true she was not supposed to meet me here." He paused leaning forward in his chair; "Mr. Bèovel had a will made some years back, of which I was fully aware. It stated that if something of this nature was to happen the colonies were to be passed into Mr. Winner's care. He also made it clear that a child of the Bèovel family must be present at the signing, or the colonies cannot be given over." He leaned back again, "Now as to my coming here, I also must be present, so you see my life was in danger on the colonies. I left an encrypted code for Midii, telling her were I could be found."

"How was it that you gained word of the attack?" Trowa inquired, the man intrigued him though he could not say why.

"A paid informant."

"But you did not get the information in time to save the family?" Duo looked slightly sceptical.

"I saved Erik." Draken ran a hand through his hair, "the man might have been paid but that doesn't mean he did not have a sick sense of humour." He reached down and brought into his lap a briefcase that had been resting beside his chair. "Master Quatre, I believe that the signing should be done now, that way you can hold a press conference letting the world know that you now own the colonies, which will stop Kain in his tracks." 

Quatre nodded moving towards an ornate desk at the far side of the room, and drew a pen from out of its holder, Draken moved beside him and placed the sheets of paper before the young businessman. "Trowa do you mind bring Erik over here?" The ex-pilot climbed to his feet, and moved to stand on the other side of his friend, "A drop of his blood is need to prove that he was present at the signing." Trowa nodded silently and turned Erik around in his arms so he was facing the older man, Draken took one of Erik's small feet in his hand and pricked the heel with a needle, and the young child made not a sound.

Duo came up beside him and took Erik into his arms, and once more began to play with him, soon Erik's giggling laughter filled the room. Trowa moved to stand behind Midii, and within seconds Quatre and Draken were done with their business and came back to sit with the rest of them. "Now there's only the small matter of what will become of Erik." Draken said slowly watching Duo play with the baby, "I would look after him, but I'm afraid I'm just too old to keep up with someone so young."

Midii looked up to him, emotions in her blue eyes he could not read, he leaned down to her allowing them to talk privately, "Trowa I can't bare the thought of Erik being with anyone else." He nodded silently, to some degree surprised that he felt the same way. Trowa kissed her neck, showing she had his full support. "He's more than welcome to stay with us." None in the room missed the word 'us' but Trowa was beyond caring.

Draken smiled warmly, "I'm glad, he seems very happy with you." Midii looked up at Trowa and flashed him a bright smile; she glanced down at her watch and then looked to Duo and Erik.

"Time to feed him, would you like to help me?" Duo nodded his head and walked towards her as Erik once more took hold of his braid and yanked it, "Can you show me to the kitchen?"

Wufei laughed softly, "That's the one place Duo could find blindfolded from anywhere in this house." Duo laughed with him knowing it to be the truth.

***

Trowa stretched his legs out before him, he and Quatre had moved to his office to converse alone, they had not seen each other in months and had much to say, though Trowa noticed that the conversation had a hard time getting to anything other than Midii. "How much about us does she know?"

"As much as the public, I've never told her I'm a gundam pilot." Trowa replied calmly.

"Best to keep it that way for now, the less she knows the better." Quatre rose from his seat and moved to gaze out the windows, "How did you meet any ways?" 

"It was during the war before I became a gundam pilot and took on the name Trowa Barton."

"And you haven't seen her since then?" Trowa nodded though his friend's back was to him.

"How are the other's doing?"

"Duo and Hilde have finally set a date for their wedding, June fourth. Heero has made no sign that he is going to propose to Relena, but I do know that none escorts her to balls or other social functions but him. Not to mention that her work load goes through him first, he makes sure to keep it light enough that they have time together almost every day, or so Noin was telling me." Trowa let his emerald gaze follow that of his friends to the magnificent sunset.

"Is it that late already?" he asked aloud not expecting an answer.

Quatre turned from the window, "You must be exhausted from the trip, why not get some sleep?" Trowa nodded and silently climbed to his feet.

"When are you speaking to the press?" 

"Tomorrow morning." Quatre replied softly, "Draken suggested that Erik be present." 

"Are you holding the conference here?"

"No, at the Perventers base."

"Safety's no longer an issue then." Trowa moved towards the door "He'll be there." With that he left the room making his way through the house to his room, to find the sleep his mind craved.

***

Midii walked through the endless halls of Quatre's house, her arms looped through Duo's as he lead her to Trowa's room. Erik had been put to bed a half hour ago, and she and Duo had talked for some time before she realised how late it was. She found the braided young man fun to be around his ready smile and easy going nature put her at ease, he was so completely different from Trowa. But she knew instantly that she would not have wanted her silent clown to be any other way. "How do you not get lost in this house?" 

"All you need is a focal point, once you have that you can find your way to it from almost anywhere." 

"I really don't think that that will work for anything other than the kitchen." 

He thought about it for a moment then frowned, "You may be right about that, oh well if you ever get lost just look for me, or wander around until one of us notice you're missing or till you find something you recognise. But I'm fairly sure Trowa would notice you're missing right away." 

Midii blushed at his words and looked away, "How many of these houses does Quatre have?"

Duo shrugged, "I can honestly say I never thought to count." They continued walking in silence until he stopped in front of a door much the same as the ones they had already passed, "This is Trowa's room, and…" he said not letting go of her hand just yet, "this is yours." He pointed to the room across the hall.

Midii smiled, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, I'll do anything for a beautiful woman." Whistling quietly to himself Duo moved off down the never-ending halls. Midii watched him leave and wondered what it was about him that seemed a contradiction, but it was only a feeling, she knew so very little about him, but in many ways he seemed like Trowa. She shook her head finding no answer, only more questions.

She knocked softly on Trowa's door but got no response and so she walked into the darkened room, she saw him instantly asleep on his bed. Midii moved to his side and sat on the edge of the bed resting her hand on his forehead, though he was asleep she could feel him respond to her gentle touch, muscles he had not even known where stiff relaxed. She leaned down and kissed him on his lips wishing he were awake, but she knew that he had been tired though he tried not to let it show, and she left the room letting him sleep peacefully. 

***

Midii woke slowly her body not yet willing to leave the soft bed, she found it an effort to force her eyes opened to look at her watch, but when she saw the time she knew that she would have to get up. Unconsciously she looked about the room for Erik until she remembered that he had been left in the care of one of Quatre's maids for the night. She moved into the bathroom and quickly showered before re-entering her room and dressing into a pair of jeans and a low cut shirt.

Silence reigned over the whole house as the people within only now began to rise for the new day, a day that at first seemed like any other. It was a day that a potential war would be put to a quick stop, however for Midii things were far from over. She could not simply let Kain get away with what he had done to Erik's family let alone what he had done to her. She had never really pursued Kain before too caught up in surviving the war, and searching for the nameless soldier who had stolen her heart. She had accomplished both of these and now could see no reason why she should not repay Kain, for the burden he had placed upon her shoulders. 

Midii shook her head clearing her eyes of her previous dark thoughts; there was still the matter of placing the colonies securely within Draken's capable hands, until then Erik was still in danger. She moved on silent feet to Trowa's door and knocked softly, she barely made out his muffled reply, and quickly slipped in. Instantly she was assaulted by a blast of cold air, with a shiver Midii's eyes locked upon the balcony door, Trowa stood half-dressed leaning against the railing, eyes down cast. She moved to his side one hand coming to rest upon his icy shoulder, "You're crazy, you know that don't you?"

Trowa looked over, his face for a moment expressionless until he really saw her, his eyes suddenly becoming intense; he half turned his lips quirking slightly as he watched her exasperated face. "You worry to much." Trowa's voice was low, calming; though it only succeed in causing her blood to race.

"You don't worry enough." She said taking his arm and leading him back into the bedroom, she pulled the glass door closed though it did little to restore heat to the room. Midii dropped down into a chair by the fireplace, and watched with some pleasure as Trowa shrugged into a dark blue dress shirt. She quickly decided that she preferred that to one of the sweaters Trowa usually wore, it could not hide his strong and well muscled body.

"You're doing it again." Trowa spoke without turning as his hands continued to button the front of his shirt. Midii jumped at the sound of his voice, a rosy blush washing over her face, but she did not take her eyes off him.

"Fair's fair, you were looking at me the same way, two minutes ago." His fingers only paused for a moment before continuing, an evil grin spread across Midii's face. "Anyway can you really deny me anything?" her voice was sweet as she leaned to one side resting her head upon one fist, Trowa glanced over his shoulder eyes confused, and Midii couldn't help but laugh. She climbed to her feet and threw both arms about his neck pulling his head down for a long kiss, she could feel his arms circling around her small waist, and had never before felt so safe. 

Finally they parted and Midii stepped back looking Trowa over, with and impish grin she reached up and undid the top two buttons, and would have gone further had Trowa not taken her hands in his. She pouted slightly but Trowa simply brought one hand to his lips and kissed her palm softly, sending a shiver down her spine. "Quatre wants Erik at the press conference." Trowa said as he walked towards the door her hand still held gently within his own. 

They moved through the house together Trowa seeming to know exactly where he was going; though Midii soon found herself completely turned around. She knew however they were heading in the right direction when she heard Erik crying, the scene in the room was one that pulled at her heart. Erik struggled in the young maid's arms his face red from crying, and his small body trembling with great shuddered breaths. The moment his eyes fell on Trowa his little hands reached for the tall man, and his crying became louder. A smile bloomed on Midii's face as Trowa took the small child into his arms; Erik sat there for a moment drawing in shuddering breaths as his little fist gripped the dark blue of Trowa's shirt. Within seconds he had calmed himself and looked up to the man that held him with a beaming smile. The silent clown offered the baby a half smile and turned to the leave the room.

Midii watched Trowa as they walked to whatever destination he had in mind, Trowa held Erik in no special way and yet the baby could not have been happier. He sat there sucking on his little fingers, while his bright eyes studied the halls that passed. He kicked his feet in delight and threw himself away from Trowa, the young man did not even look down, he simply readjusted his hold on the squirming baby and continued walking. Midii slipped her hand through Trowa's arm, "When's the conference?"

He glanced at her through the corner of one eye; "It's at ten," he replied quietly.

"That's in an hour, should we not already be there?"

"No, Quatre's sister Tamara is looking after all the preparations." They continued down the halls without a word, the silence breaking from time to time with Erik's soft laughter.

"Good morning." Midii and Trowa both turned to see Draken walking down an adjacent hall towards them, his aged face held a warm smile as he stopped before them. "Going for breakfast are you?"

Midii nodded as she glanced up at Trowa, "If he doesn't get lost on the way." Draken chuckled heartily, while Trowa turned a questioning look on her, she merely flashed him a brilliant smile. 

"There's still a matter that must be settled between us." Draken spoke softly to Midii, "You completed your job and I have not yet paid you."

Midii looked over to the older man, she had forgotten entirely that she was even on a mission, so caught up was she in meeting Trowa again. "Don't worry about it."

Draken looked shock, "That simply won't do Midii, we have a contract."

"I know," she lay one hand on the diplomats arm, "but really I don't care about the money at all."

"Still it would be bad for my reputation to let you walk away with nothing." His voice held a note of pleading within it and Midii turned to him with a sigh.

"If you feel you must, but there is no longer anything within this world that I want." She watched as Draken's eyes travelled to Trowa and back to her a knowing smile played across his features.

"I'm sure I can find something that will amuse you." Midii cocked her head to one side studying the older man, something in his tone puzzled her but she could not say what. The three walked into the dinning room only to find that they were the last to arrive. Midii took a seat beside Trowa and gladly took Erik into her arms to feed him. It was not long until Duo swooped down to take the young child from her so she too could eat.

Quatre rose to his feet a few minutes later, his blue green eyes bright; "We should leave shortly." It was simply a suggestion, but soon everyone was on their feet, Midii noticed absently that Heero, Wufei, and Duo were all wearing Perventers uniforms, and each, though they could not have been any older than Trowa, was wearing a very distinguished rank.

The small party moved outside into the bright sunlight. Midii noticed immediately that the sun had taken the bite out of the air, and the clear blue skies promised a perfect day. She held Erik dressed in warm cloths close to her body though he wanted to twist and turn to see the falling leaves. Trowa silently held the car door open for her, and as she slipped in he gave her a quick smile. They were on the road in seconds and driving through the ageless city, which was the focal point of the peace that covered both earth and colonies.

"How is it that men so young could attain such a high rank within the Perventers?" she asked her eyes fixed on the landscape that passed by.

"Just like you they're good at what they do."

"True," she conceded softly, "but they can't be more than twenty."

"Eighteen actually." Trowa corrected.

She looked over to him then, "Are you as well one of the Perventers?"

There was a long pause as Trowa continued to drive eyes focused on the vehicle in front of him. "Yes," he said finally.

"And do you also carry the same rank at them?"

He nodded mutely, "When I choose to wear the uniform."

Midii studied him; there was so much she did not know about Trowa, and so many things she felt he was keeping from her. She however did not begrudge his silence, for there were things about him of which she was fully aware but Trowa himself was completely in the dark. Midii knew that in time Trowa would reveal to her all of his past, the only question was when? But she knew she would be willing to wait. Midii cocked her head to one side, and imagined Trowa to be one of the Gundam pilots that had saved the world. She was to some degree surprised that he fit the part so well.

Midii was shaken from her thoughts as Trowa spoke, "We're here." She looked once more out her window to the towering building they were parked in front of. It rose over a hundred stories above them and sprawled across acres of ground. Midii gazed into its glassy surface and knew well the power that the people within held, they along with Relena held the peace, and continued to work protecting the people's interests. "Stay with Duo, I'll meet up with you in a few minutes." He did not wait for a response.

Climbing from the car Midii glanced about looking for Duo, her crystal eyes fell upon him and she moved to his side. "Do you know where Trowa's going?" He smiled and shook his head.

"Who could say?" He took hold of her hand and looped it through his arm, "Come on the conference starts in five minutes." Quatre and the others were already heading towards the base, as they walked into the main reception foyer, all soldiers present snapped to attention.

"Sir," one young man addressed Quatre, "Lady Une, is waiting for you, this way please." The soldier moved off down one of the many halls, his booted feet clicking on the tiled floor. They all crowded into an elevator, and soon where standing on the ninety-fifth floor, the soldier continued on down the halls seeming to know his exact destination. He stopped outside a door that appeared to be the same as all the others, "Please go right in."

The room was simply furnished having only a long table and chairs, a second door at the other end of the room was the only other exit. Trowa leaned calmly against the wall wearing now the Perventers uniform, though Midii noticed all he had been missing before was the coat. A woman with chestnut brown hair sat at the head of the table as they walked in, Midii knew her as the Lady Une they had come to see.

She came to her feet as Quatre moved around the table to stand beside her, "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, of course." They all took their seats and for a moment they were all silent, Une looked down the table to Midii and studied her for a moment, "Have we met before?" she asked. 

Midii shook her head silently, "My name is Midii Une." The older woman gave a slight start at her words but said nothing more. 

Une turned back to Quatre, "How do you wish to proceed in this?"

The young businessman paused only a moment before answering "My main objective for now is to secure Erik's safety, I'm already gathering data on Kain and I want to know his full reasons before I make any strike against him." Midii was about to protest that she would be the one taking care of Kain, but she remained silent. It would take them time to gather the information, giving her more than ample opportunity to head to the colonies.

"And if he gains word that you are looking for him do really believe he will stay out in the open?" Wufei asked.

"I don't intend to make any mention of who killed Erik's family. The only thing the press is going to know is that I am following the wishes of the late Mr. Bèovel, and that is all they need to know." The rest around the table nodded.

"Have you any idea what his goals are?" Une inquired, "My sources so far have found nothing of any real use."

"It's certainly not world domination."

"What?"

"I said it's certainly not world domination, Kain is too reserved to attempt that, however he could be the financial portion of a greater corporation." Midii spoke without looking at anyone present in the room.

"It would appear that you know quite a bit about this man, how well do you know him?" Une asked leaning forward on the table.

"He's a man I came to know during the war." Midii's crystal eyes were intense as she locked them on the woman before her; she would only offer them the information she saw fit her past was her own. "Even this, the killing of the Bèovel family is more forward than he's ever been, I don't believe he's working alone."

"You could be right," Une said softly.

"I really don't think we have very much to worry about right now." Heero put in his voice as always lacking all emotion. "Once Kain hears the news, there will be nothing for him to do but wait. Presently only we know he was behind the attack, until that becomes common knowledge he'll be watching as much as we are."


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Gundam Wing  
  
First, I must humbly apologize how long it's been…. School has been crazy and it eats into writing time _  
  
(Posters note: this is partly my fault... she gave me the chapter and I kinda forgot about it… it's been sitting on my hard drive for a week or two.. Sorry!)  
  
Second: thanks to amazing beta readers!! White rabbit, Brenda… wonderful people ^_^  
  
Now I'll let you read and try to get the next chapter out sooner  
  
Alright some of you may have thought the transition from chapter five to six was jarring, I'd like to thank Midii Une for pointing this out to me. Somewhere along the way this part of my story was lost, so here it is chapter five (b). Hopefully this will answer all the questions. Sorry for the confusion…and please enjoy  
  
p.s. don't pay attention to and spelling or grammatical errors, it has not been edited.  
  
Une looked down at her watch; "It's time." She climbed to her feet and all those present followed. The older woman moved to the second door and opened it, instantly Midii could hear hundreds of voices all holding separate conversations, Une moved out behind a podium, and instantly cameras began to flash as they all began to shout their questions. Lady Une seemed more than used to this and simply raise her hands for silence, at least three minutes passed before order was restored to the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, your patients has been greatly appreciated, as you all know more than a week ago the Bèovel family was cruelly assassinated. It is not however the fate of the colonies to be forgotten. Ladies and gentlemen of the press I give to you Quatre Raberba Winner."  
  
The men and women present in the room came to their feet with a roar of applause; cameras flashed continuously about the room, Quatre raised one hand for silence, and almost instantly everyone retook their seats. "As I'm sure you already know my family has always had strong ties with that of Bèovel, my late father was very close friends with the late Jason Bèovel. I grieve as much as the people of the colonies for the loss of such a great leader, but I am not without hope. Though we presently do not know who is at fault for the hideous strike against humanity, we will not rest until they have been brought to justice."  
  
Once more the reporters in the room came to their feet in approval of all Quatre said, Midii noticed with some surprise that Quatre had no papers infront of him. He waited patiently for the crowd to calm themselves, and when they had he continued. "A man with high standing in the Bèovel family came to me some days ago, and informed me that Jason Bèovel had prepared for such a scenario, and I proudly present to you this very man, Devon Draken." Quatre gestured to the door and Draken walked out in the view of the present.  
  
"In the end Jason Bèovel's ties to my family were so strong it was his last wish that I should take into my hands his colonies. However it was required that a child of the family be present at the signing, or the colonies could not be passed over. It is with great pleasure that I tell you, those behind the assassination were not able to complete their job." Quatre half turned to Draken as he continued to speak in a clear and full voice. "Mr. Draken was able with the help of inside sources to gain knowledge of the strike, it was however not in time to save the whole family. Only one child was spared a child unaware of all he has lost. I am truly disgusted to be human when I think that not even a baby would have been spared."  
  
Trowa leaned down placing his lips near Midii's ear, "Its time." She nodded mutely and passed Erik into Duo hands, Trowa looked at her puzzled.  
  
"You don't want Kain to know, that you know it was him right?" he nodded, "then I had better stay out of sight, he knew I was looking for Erik." She spoke in low tones and slipped back away from the door, the four Perventers moved out onto the platform surrounding Erik as the cameras flashed widely trying to get a clean picture of the baby. Erik himself was having the time of his life, laughing at all the bright lights and bouncing in Duo's arms.  
  
"And so as you can see the colonies shall not be forgotten, nor thrown into the hands of a man unworthy of them. They are now a part of my corporation though they will retain their own identity. As a trusted confidant of Jason Bèovel it is my decision that the colonies be placed within the care of Mr. Draken, I have no doubt that he will continue with the same ideals that made the Bèovel family so strong." Quatre rested both hands on the podium and looked out over the crowd as they all shouted their questions, finally he pointed to one young woman near the front.  
  
"Mr. Winner do the Perventers have any leads on who was behind the assassination?"  
  
Lady Une stepped forward, "allow me to take that question. As of right now we are investigating all the evidence and perusing all leads, I assure you the ones behind this attack with be found. I'm sorry I can't tell you anything more about them." She then directed the floor to the middle aged man in the back.  
  
"Can you tell us what colony their from and the corporation they work for?"  
  
Une chuckled slightly, "see when I said I couldn't tell you any more I meant everything but the colony they came from and the place they worked." She rolled her eyes as once more the room filled with questions, "Thank you that's all we have for today." With that she turned back to wards the door and re-entered the conference room, "and now what?" Une inquired of Quatre.  
  
The blonde man ran one hand through his hair, "well nothing until tomorrow at least, I think it would be best to let the information filter through the system to Kain. I want to know everything about his corporation and any connections it has to more volatile organisations."  
  
"Keep me updated." Une said as she left the room.  
  
Quatre looked about the room; "shall we head back? For now at least the peace has been secured. My father would be pleased, there was no fighting."  
  
Midii leaned against Trowa where he stood, and he gently placed his arm around her, "I don't know about you but I'd like to relax for a little while." He gave her a half smile, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Duo when we get back do you mind looking after Erik?"  
  
He gave her his best smile, "not at all pretty lady."  
  
Wufei turned to Quatre, "I'll be by in the evening, there are still some things I need to finish."  
  
As one they left the room and made their way back towards the entrance, somewhere along the way Wufei split off, to complete his errands. Midii walked beside Trowa her hand clasped in his, she already knew how she wanted to spend the rest of her day. They made great time back to Quatre's house and Midii found the day to be even warmer than expected. Trowa watched her silently as they stood alone in the parlour, he had discarded his Perventers jacket, and once more she undid the top two button of his shirt.  
  
"It's too beautiful a day to be inside, why don't you show me Quatre's gardens." He shrugged silently and led the way through the large house. The sun shone bright and strong over the fiery gardens, and for a time Midii simply wandered through them with Trowa by her side. It was not long however until Midii found what she was looking for, a beautifully hand crafted wooden bench sat in the shade of a great oak tree it was just what she had been hoping for.  
  
She gestured for Trowa to take a seat and when he had she sat upon his lap. Midii wrapped her arms about his neck and leaned her head against his chest laughing softly at his surprised look. "You'd think by now that you would at least be used to me."  
  
His arms circled about her; "I never know what to think when you do."  
  
"That's what makes it so fun." She closed her eyes and for a moment simply enjoyed the sun upon her skin, the wind through her hair, and the sound of Trowa's heart beating clearly in her ears. "I love you Trowa." She spoke softly glancing up at him through her long eyelashes.  
  
Trowa pulled her closer to him, and cupping the side of her face with one hand, he leaned down to claim her lips in a passionate kiss. Midii felt Trowa's love flow through he in indescribable ways, she felt him touch her very soul.  
  
***  
  
Draken wandered without a sound through the hall of Quatre's large home his mind so deep in thought that he hardly noticed where it was that he went. With a start He looked up from his deep contemplation, and found himself standing on the third floor of the house at a window that over looked the gardens below. His grey eyes fell upon Trowa and Midii, their attention entirely on one anther as they sealed their love with a kiss. He half smiled at the touching scene, knowing very well what it felt like to love another human being so completely.  
  
He watched through the perfect glass window and the young couple separated for but a moment, still their arms encircled the other. He was about to move away, even though they were unaware of his presence to him it still felt wrong to intrude upon so special a moment, but something however made him stop and continue watching. Midii looked up at Trowa, even from this distance her loved was clear in her eyes, she ran one hand through his hair as she spoke, Draken had never been able to master the art of reading lips and so what she said was lost to him.  
  
But Trowa's reaction he found shocking, the usually silent man actually began to laugh a larger smile than Draken had ever seen dance upon his young face. Even Midii was for a moment shocked by her lovers reaction, but she recovered quickly as Trowa pulled her closer and buried his face in her hair. Draken continued to watch the happy couple, that was the first time he had ever seen Trowa show any emotion other than a half smile. It made him wonder even more what it was that Midii had said, truly she had a great power over Trowa, too incur such a reaction.  
  
Chapter 6  
  
Midii stood in the doorway her long blonde hair pulled up out of her face; she walked in her steps graceful and eye catching. Trowa felt a blush creep up his face and was thankful for the dimness of the room, she walked to stand before him, and Trowa noticed just how small she was. Leaning down he claimed her lips in a soft kiss, his hand moving to the back of her neck, while hers twined about his. When finally they parted Trowa took a seat on the edge of his bed, and Midii sat close beside him, her head resting upon his shoulder. "I need a shuttle," her voice was low barely above a whisper.  
  
Trowa looked at her curiously, "Why?"  
  
She sighed and looked away seeming not to what to meet his gaze. "There's something I must take care of," she said evasively.  
  
"Your not thinking of taking on Kain are you?" he watched her closely and saw her tense ever so slightly.  
  
"He's my problem to take care of."  
  
"What makes you think that you have to go alone?"  
  
She turned back to him; "This is my score to settle."  
  
Trowa shook his head; "Everything is already taken care of, besides it's too dangerous for you to go alone."  
  
"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself." She said defensively, her crystal eyes becoming intense.  
  
"I can't let you put yourself in danger." He responded calmly.  
  
"Since when do you get to decide what I can and cannot do?!" Midii jumped to her feet in exasperation, "besides if you won't help me get a shuttle, I'll leave and get my own!"  
  
Trowa came to his feet as well, "What makes you think you can even get out of this house?" She stared at him for a moment unable to speak.  
  
"How can you deny me this?!" she all but shouted.  
  
"I don't want to see you get hurt."  
  
"That is not your decision to make!" she turned on her heels and left the room slamming the door behind her, Trowa took a step to follow but stopped himself, she may be mad at him but at least she was safe. He made a decision then, walking back to the chair he had hung his shirt over Trowa shrugged back into it, he then took hold of his silenced gun that rested on the near by table. Checking the ammo he slipped the weapon behind his belt and left the room.  
  
Through it was not really late, already the house was silent, he moved down the hall without a sound. His eyes focused on one spot of air before him. Trowa did not take notice of the architecture of Quatre's home as he might have before. He simply walked on face set. He heard the footsteps following him long before he reached the large oak door, it was not until he had the door opened that Quatre spoke.  
  
"Where are you going Trowa?" he asked in his gentle voice.  
  
"I have something I need to take care of." He did not turn from the door.  
  
"Without Midii?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Quatre lay one hand on his friend's shoulder; "This is about Kain isn't it?" Trowa said nothing but his silence was confirmation on its own. "Trowa it's already been taken care of."  
  
"This is personal." He could not say why he felt he had to take care of this now, but he was not about to risk Midii in any way.  
  
"What connection does Midii have to this man?"  
  
"It doesn't matter, the connection won't be there long." His voice was low and more adamant than he had expected.  
  
"I think you're making a mistake Trowa, this isn't your problem."  
  
"It is now." Quatre withdrew his hand, "Promise me you won't let her leave the house."  
  
"Trowa I…"  
  
"Promise Me!!" Trowa spoke through clenched teeth.  
  
"I promise…" Quatre mumbled his voice no more than a whisper.  
  
Trowa nodded mutely satisfied with his friends promise, as he walked from the silent home he spoke over his shoulder, "Don't tell her where I've gone, I'll be back in a few days." Trowa never looked back as he climbed into his car and gunned it down the driveway into the night.  
  
***  
  
Trowa had caught a shuttle late that night and had rested the next day at a nondescript motel; he now sat within his car once again shrouded by the night's shadows. His hands flew along the keys of his computer, moments before he had hacked his way into Kain's information mainframe and was presently committing to memory the blueprints and security systems that he would have to overcome. For a moment Trowa let his emerald gaze travel up to the building the which stood before him, for all intents and purposes it was nothing more than a regular corporation. But in the deepest shadows Trowa had found armed guards, more than anyone in business need, though not nearly enough to constitute an army.  
  
It made him wonder silently what it was Kain was up to, he shook his head and finished scanning through his information. Trowa reached into his glove box and pulled out a small leather case, inside was every tool he would need to make it past their security systems, which he noticed with a half smile where nothing he could not handle. He stepped from the car and melted into the shadows, as he moved towards the skyscraper his thoughts turned involuntarily towards Midii, by now she would know he was missing. The question was, did she care? He pushed the thought from his mind knowing that it was far better that Midii be mad at him and safe, than beside him and in danger.  
  
Trowa leaned against the wall of the building and pulled forward the small leather case. He carefully removed a small computer, and hooked it up to the security system that guarded the small door he stood beside. Within seconds he was standing inside Kain's organisation, Trowa pulled his silenced gun from behind his belt and made his way forward without a sound. His progress was slow as he was constantly forced to stop and hack into the computer systems to make it by any precautions Kain had put into place. He could easily have shut the whole system down, but that would have alerted everyone within the building to his presence, even if they did not know where he was.  
  
Even with the time it took to disable and restart each system Trowa still made it to the main elevator in under a half-hour. He leaned calmly against one wall and watched as the numbers flashed by above him, every muscle in his body was tense and ready for anything that might come around the next corner. As the elevator slowed to a stop Trowa moved to one side of the door and glanced cautiously out as the doors slide opened. There was no one guarding the elevator, and he could hear no sign of any soldiers moving about.  
  
With a cat like grace, Trowa edged towards his destination, he could not afford to be too careful now, he was deep within the enemy base, and although they were unaware of his presence things could still go terribly wrong. Trowa cursed silently as he heard men moving down the hall towards him, glancing about he found that there was nowhere for him to move to, he was going to be forced to make his presence known. They came around the corner, twelve men in uniforms, completely unaware of the man standing before them.  
  
Trowa dropped into a low crouch, gun aimed on his nearest target, the men hesitated in surprise, and the ex-pilot did not waste a second of his advantage. He exploded forward, firing off five rapid shots and took out the same number of men. He aimed always for the legs wanting only to disable them. By the time the five men were down the others had recovered and surrounded him, trying to overwhelm him with shear numbers. Trowa moved quickly, fighting hand to hand, he brought his leg up and clipped one man in the temple sending him to the ground in a senseless heap. He leg swept another and caught him square in the face as he fell.  
  
Finding that the men were beginning to surround him to close, Trowa vaulted from among their ranks and landed some distance away, as he touched ground he felt a bullet tear across his shoulder. He forced the pain from his mind and dove to the side taking up his gun from where he had been forced to drop it. Trowa took out three more men including the gun man, he trained his sights on what he thought was the last man, as his finger was about to pull back on the trigger Trowa noticed the mans eyes shift to something behind him. The former Gundam pilot swung around but it was too late the last man grabbed him from behind in an iron grip.  
  
The other man came forward and began to pummel Trowa's ribs and abdomen, with a stream of punches his eyes blazing with fury. Trowa twisted within his captors grasp, as he felt his ribs begin to give way under the assault, he caught his captors leg with his own and threw him off balance. As the man began to fall Trowa broke his grip and back flipped over him, as he landed his leg shot out and caught the man in the side of the neck, ending his fight. The last man who before had so ruthlessly attacked him now turned and ran when Trowa locked his emerald eyes on him.  
  
Trowa did not bother to look at the mini war zone around him, he simply took into his hands a gun that one of the men had discarded and charged after the man. Blood trickled down his arm, and pain burned through him, he found it hard to breathe as he raced down the halls, but all of this he pushed away, his mind focused on his mission. He rounded another corner and skidded to a halt, more than a dozen men blocked the hall, all wore guns but none hand drawn them, for a moment Trowa wondered why. His question however was soon answered.  
  
"Remember he has to be taken alive." One man among the ranks cautioned. Trowa dropped back into a defensive crouch and raised his gun, the men came at him at once, he was not sure how many of them he took out. They swarmed over him, slamming him to the ground. Trowa tried to draw in a ragged breath but one of the men drove his knee into the small of his back, as both of his arms where roughly taken and tied behind his back. He was painfully hauled to his feet and he found himself face to face with an officer, the man looked him up and down for a moment, his eyes intense.  
  
"That's quite a fight you put up for just one man." He was the man who had warned, that Trowa was to be taken alive. "Just who are you anyway?" Trowa made no response, the man nodded his head and another soldier began to search his pockets, the only thing they came back with was the small computer and leather case. "Well what have we here?" The man turned the computer on and Trowa silently prepared for the explosion that was to come. As the officer tried to access the files without imputing the proper codes, a warning siren filled the air, Trowa body checked the man that was holding him and drove the both of them to the ground.  
  
The officer threw the item away in shock, the explosion sent a shockwave through the base and knocked every man from his feet. Trowa was once more dragged to a standing position, as the officer climbed shakily to his feet. "Well you're certainly more than any common terrorist." He gestured to the men holding Trowa and began to walk down the winding halls. A band of soldiers who had obviously heard the explosion soon met them, as they moved towards their destination. The officer who led Trowa spoke briefly to them and they soon were sent running back the way Trowa had been led, to help the wounded.  
  
They soon came in sight of two large and carefully carved doors, Trowa had no doubts as to who was behind those doors, he remained quiet, and tried to focus on something other than the pain. He knew that to gain any sort of advantage he would have to be fully alert. The officer entered first, and moments later Trowa was led in. The room was large, the wall opposite the door given over entirely to windows displaying a view of the colony beyond. A heavy mahogany desk sat in the shadow of the window and behind was a swivel chair, the occupant Trowa could not make out; he did however instantly recognise the man that stood beside the desk. He was the small man that had searched Trowa's trailer, in the hopes of finding Midii and Erik. Trowa once more reassured himself that both were safe and would stay that way no matter what happened to him.  
  
Trowa was forced to his knees before the desk, as the men about him snapped to attention. The swivel chair slowly turned, giving Trowa his first look at the man that had killed both Midii's and Erik's families. He was at least in his early forties, with piercing blue eyes that seemed to try and bore through him. "So this is the man that took out fifteen of our men." Kain's voice was low as he studied Trowa's face. Trowa's attention however was more focused on the man standing beside the desk, the small man had taken a great interest in him, and had yet to look away. But upon hearing the charge lain against Trowa his eyes brightened and he seemed to look at Trowa as if he had never seen him before.  
  
"Sir, do not trouble yourself with such a problem, allow me to handle this."  
  
Kain turned to study the small man for a moment, before nodding, "Do what you like, Argile. But make sure you kill him in the end." The small man nodded without a word and with another gesture Trowa was once more drawn to his feet and led from the room.  
  
Nothing was said as they walked down the halls, or at least nothing Trowa could hear, Argile had moved ahead with the officer and was quietly conferring with him. Trowa glanced about mutely his mind racing for a way out, but he could find nothing, two men held his arms, which were also securely bound behind him. He was led into a medium sized room in the centre of which was a chair meant to shackle both the wrists and legs. They forced him down first shackling his legs then untying his hands and securing them to the chair. When the process was complete Trowa found himself alone facing the small man.  
  
"I don't know of many people who could have pulled off what you just did. Breaking through every security system we have, without our knowledge. Then taking on a dozen men and winning without taking one life, in all you have seriously injured fifteen of our top soldiers." Argile paused folding his arms across his chest; "No, I can honestly say that I know of only five men who could possible have pulled this off."  
  
He pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against and walked towards Trowa, "Who would ever have thought a gundam pilot would actually walk right into our hands?" Trowa remained silent his eyes and face showing nothing, but if anything that only reaffirmed, what Argile believed. "Well you're far too valuable to kill, or to be left in Kain's hands, he would never put your talents to proper use." With one last glance Argile moved from the room.  
  
Now alone Trowa strained against his bonds but found them solid, he did not however stop. He put all his strength behind his left hand, working his wrist this way and that until the leather bit deep into his skin. He was however forced to stop when the door once more opened and a woman walked in. She was in her early thirties with hair the same colour as Midii's though it did not appear to be nearly as soft, she wore a white lab coat, and there was an innocence about her eyes that did not seem to fit with the place in which she worked.  
  
She gave Trowa a half smile before she moved to his right shoulder and slowly rolled his sleeve away from the bullet wound. Trowa tried to pull his arm away but found that there was very little room for him to move, she simply smiled again and gently took his arm, "Hold still I have to clean this." Trowa complied realising that his efforts where futile, he simply sat silently and watched her bath the gash with hydrogen peroxide. Pain burned through him but Trowa did not think about it, his mind was still focused on a way to escape.  
  
"You look too young to be a terrorist." She said softly, as she tied a bandage about his upper arm, Trowa watched her but said nothing, he was fairly sure she had not been made to ask that question but she was safer knowing as little as possible. She carefully unrolled his sleeve all the while studying his face to see if anything changed, nothing had. The woman moved to kneel in front of him and for a moment she simply bore her eyes into his own, her eyes were a soft grey, and they seemed not to know the truth of the world that Trowa's had been born with.  
  
She shook her head and took hold of the top button of his shirt and undid it, she continued on down until his shirt hung opened. Trowa simply watched having nothing else he could do, her hands did not move with the same grace that Midii's did, hers were far more precise. Trowa glanced down at his exposed chest and found it already to be a mass of bruises, he drew in a shallow breath and felt stabs of pain from all around. The woman began to bind his ribs tightly with a rolled bandage, her hands where cool against his skin as she worked. When she had finished she climbed to her feet and moved to a counter across from him.  
  
With her back turned Trowa once more tested his bonds all the while keeping an eye on the woman, when he saw a syringe come into view he redoubled his efforts. He was not so naïve as to believe whatever drug was going into the syringe would in any way help him. Trowa's efforts were rewarded, with a tare of flesh the leather snapped and his arm was free, he instantly undid the bonds on his right arm, and moved to those on his legs. He was standing by the time the woman turned around, she screamed in alarm, her hand shooting back under the edge of the counter to a button Trowa had not even seen.  
  
The room filled with sirens and seconds later a dozen men came rushing in all brandishing their weapons. Trowa remained stock still his mind racing, it almost seemed to him as if they had trained for this exact situation. Moments passed and Trowa could hear the sound of applause, Argile walked slowly into the room, a smile dancing upon his face. "If I had had any doubts before they're certainly gone now." Trowa's face never changed; "You must understand I can't afford to take any risks with you, and since your simply being awake is a risk…" he left the rest hanging and looked to the woman whose eyes still seemed wild when she looked at Trowa.  
  
Argile gestured towards Trowa, and the woman moved slowly towards him, her eyes still unsure. Trowa felt like a caged animal, his mind reeled. They had been preparing for this situation for what had to be years, what really was going on? The woman cautiously took his left arm into her hand; Trowa flexed every muscle in his arm in the hopes that the tip of the needle would break off. But it appeared as though the woman had had experience with difficult patience before; she simply turned his arm and inserted the syringe. Seconds later Trowa could feel the alien drug working its way through his system, and he fought it off.  
  
"I wouldn't waste your time, it will only make waking more difficult, besides we doubled the dose. Not even your system can fight it off." Trowa knew Argile's words to be true but he could not back down from the fight. He felt the pain from his broken ribs begin to recede and he knew that he did not have very much longer. Trowa fell forward into the blackness; he never felt himself touch ground. 


	7. chapter 7

Nanashi  
  
Chapter 7 By Morganeth Taren'drel  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing *pout*  
  
(Authors Notes) I'm so sorry this has taken me so long, but my family finally got the internet and now I'm doing all my postings which I'm just now getting used to, thank you all so much for being patient, here's a nice long chapter to make it up to you ^_^. Thanks also to Midii Une who edited this chapter for me ^_^  
  
Midii groggily opened her eyes, she did not know what time it was nor did she really care, it had taken her hours to get to sleep and even then her night had been plagued by dreams of Trowa. At the thought of him Midii could feel the familiar knots forming in the back of her neck once more. She could not believe he would deny her the right to exact revenge upon Kain. She knew deep in the back of her mind that he was only trying to protect her, but she did not care, he had no right to control her life in this way.  
  
She swung her legs over the edge of her bed and rubbed the back of her neck with one hand, trying to relieve the tension. Midii sat there for a moment her eyes glancing about as she tried to decide what to do; she was more than aware that Quatre's home was heavily guarded. She climbed to her feet and walked to the balcony doors, Midii carefully studied the framework and found the sensors that would alert those watching to the door being opened. Midii opened the door and walked out onto the marble balcony, the cool wind causing shivers to run down her spine.  
  
She stepped carefully to the edge, and leaned calmly against the railing her eyes carefully studying the gardens below her. Her sharp vision caught sight of the men that patrolled the grounds around the house; she blushed and wondered how many of them had seen both her and Trowa. At the thought of the performer Midii felt all the tension she had forgotten before come rushing back. She breathed slowly trying to release her hands form the fists they had clenched into.  
  
With a sigh she turned around and leaned back against the railing, raising her crystal eyes to the sky above, the enraged clouds raced across the blue horizon boiling, racing from horizon to horizon; foretelling a storm to come.  
  
"How am I going to get out of here," she mused quietly as the wind whipped through her hair. There was clearly no way for her to get out of the house, she sighed again walked slowly back into her room. There was nothing left for her to do but wait until the Preventers decided to make their move.  
  
Midii stepped into her large bathroom, and turned the shower on, hoping the hot water would relieve her tension stress, but as she stepped under the steaming spray, she found her anger remained. Midii could not take her mind off Trowa. He was everything to her, and yet he denied her the right to take revenge against Kain the man that had stolen everything from her. She re-emerged into her bedroom and dressed, pulling a large sweater over her head. She ran one hand through her wet hair, and walked over to the table by her bed and lifted her gun into her hands. Without a second thought she slipped it behind her belt, more out of habit than any real need, with that she quit the room.  
  
For a time she stood there watching Trowa's door, her mind wandering, she considered walking in there and confronting him, but quickly pushed the idea away. He was the last person in the world she wanted to see. Midii glanced one way down the halls and then another, trying without much success to remember her way to the dining room.  
  
"Morning beautiful!"  
  
She turned and felt a half smile steal across her face as her crystal eyes fell on Duo.  
  
"Your up awfully late, did you not sleep well?" his voice was full of concern, and she felt herself completely relax as she gave him an honest smile.  
  
"I didn't get to bed until very late, where are you heading?" she inquired softly.  
  
"Anywhere you are Babe."  
  
He took her hand in his own and walked back the way he had come. He stopped suddenly and turned to face her. "We should probably wait for Trowa though."  
  
"Don't worry about it, he'll come down when he's ready." Her voice was cold, and she noticed absently that Duo did not seem all that surprised, though she guessed that he had simply heard their argument the night before.  
  
"Well I don't know about you but I'm starving." He smiled again and led her through the house to the dining room, where Quatre and the others, including Draken, sat about the table enjoying lunch. Duo took a seat and instantly began to fill his plate; Midii however moved to the windows and once more lost herself in the blowing wind that tore through the trees beyond the glass. She could not find it within herself to eat.  
  
Midii was unaware as to how much time passed while she stood by the windows without moving an inch. Her mind continually travelled back to Trowa, no matter what she did to stop it. She was angered and frustrated that she could not control her thoughts. She looked back about the room when she felt a hand on her shoulder and found herself looking at Draken.  
  
"Aren't you going to have anything to eat?" his voice was low and gentle, his grey eyes softly taking her in.  
  
She shook her head absently still feeling no need for food, her eyes travelled about the faces in the room and found that still one was not present. Midii opened her mouth to respond to his kind question, but what she had meant to say was overridden by a question that she had sworn she would not ask.  
  
"Where's Trowa?"  
  
Quatre looked up from his paper, his blue eyes reflective; "perhaps he's overslept?"  
  
Midii shook her head before he had even finished; "No Trowa's not like that." She did not know why she had responded because she had sworn to herself that she did not care, but as time continued to pass and he still did not appear she could not help but feel worried.  
  
"Maybe he's not feeling well," Draken supplied, leading her considerately to a chair. "Anyway if you're worried why don't you go see him?"  
  
Midii's eyes flashed briefly; "Trowa is more than capable of taking care of himself." Though her words and voice were harsh, her heart was not. She knew in the back of her mind that something was not right but she could not say what. Footsteps at the other end of the room brought all heads up; a woman walked in she was in her early twenties and wore a Preventers uniform though she did not have the rank the Trowa and the others did.  
  
"Sally!" Quatre said with some surprise, he rose from his seat and walked forward to meet her, "you have the information?"  
  
"Of course, everything's in order." The older woman smiled as she hefted a briefcase she was carrying.  
  
"Excellent, why don't we get started?" he moved from the room taking Sally by the arm, as he did he cast Duo a knowing glance and bent his head to hers in quiet conversation.  
  
Duo climbed to his feet and quickly walked to Midii's side, as she too stood and began to move from the room. He gently took her arm and slowed down her pace to his own, she did not miss that this allowed Quatre to keep a great distance between her and himself as he conversed with Sally. She was now positive that something was happening. Midii turned to Duo. "What's going on?"  
  
"You know as much as I do, Sally just brought all the information we have on."  
  
"That's not what I mean and you know it." She interrupted what Duo had been going to say, "where's Trowa?"  
  
"I thought you didn't care." He calmly threw back, Midii stared at him for a moment unable to speak. She swung her head away sending her blonde hair flying and pulled her arm from Duo's grasp. A great feeling of foreboding washed over her, but she forced it away knowing that she was worrying over nothing.  
  
They moved into Quatre's parlour and all save Sally took seats, she moved to stand before all of them and rested her folder on a small table. "Alright we've gathered together and gone through everything we could find on Kain. Unfortunately none of this really helps us." She paused and flipped opened the folder and ran one finger down the page, "he has no affiliations with any other corporation, nor does he hold ownership to any factories that could produce mobile suits."  
  
"It would appear that he had the Bèovel family killed just for the sake of taking over the colonies," Sally continued, shrugging. "I don't know what to say."  
  
Quatre leaned back in his chair for a moment, his eyes studying the ceiling, "perhaps were simply so used to conspiracies that we see them were they don't even exist. Still there is something puzzling about all this, why did he choose now?"  
  
"I believe there are far easier questions out there to answer," Draken said, eyes watching Quatre. "Though I can honestly tell you that Kain most likely has been working towards this day for years, it takes time to build up a corporation like the one he has."  
  
Midii listened with only half an ear to the conversation certain words ringing clear in her mind. She could feel it in her heart, Trowa was in danger. She could not say why she felt that way. She was more than aware that the Preventers were among the best-trained soldiers in the world, and if Trowa had attained the same rank as the other men in the room, she should have had nothing to worry about. But she could not shake the feeling that there was far more to this than any of them had first thought.  
  
She rose silently and moved from the room ignoring the questions posed to her retreating back. Her mind turned over everything she knew of what had happened, but nothing extremely unusual came forward. Kain had ordered the killing of the Bèovel family so he could gain control of the colonies, for no other reason than the money, but that problem had been taken care of. She was already aware that Trowa was not in the house, she realized now she had known that from the moment she woke. Midii knew that he had left to confront Kain, this angered her but not as much as this feeling of fear.  
  
She knew Kain was no match for Trowa, she could not say why she felt that way but she did, and she found no comfort in it. Midii looked up and found herself standing in front of Trowa's door, for a brief time she wondered how it was that she had managed to find her way through the house. But she quickly pushed all other thoughts from her mind, as she slowly opened the door. Midii was already prepared for what she would find, an empty room, she took a step in, sharp eyes falling upon the bed.  
  
Midii lay one hand on the door frame, as an image of Trowa entered her mind, she could see and hear nothing but him, his screams of terror as he thrashed within the throes of a nightmare he could find no exit, or escape from. Midii trembled and shook her head banishing the image of her overactive imagination.  
  
"Midii are you all right?!" she heard Duo's worried voice coming up behind her.  
  
Midii walked deeper into the room without responding, and stood at the end of Trowa's bed, her haunted eyes studying that which was not there. "Where's Trowa?" she asked yet again in a low voice.  
  
"I don't know Midii."  
  
"Where is he Duo?!" she swung about pulling her gun and levelling it at the braided man, "cut the bullshit and tell me!"  
  
She knew full well, where he was but she wanted to hear it from the man standing across from her, who obviously had known about this longer than she had.  
  
Duo jumped back in surprise, hands coming up defensively as he answered the angry girl before him. "By now he's in the colonies."  
  
"Get me a shuttle!"  
  
"I can't." Duo looked truly miserable as he stood starring down the barrel of her gun. "I can't." he said again his voice barely above a whisper.  
  
"There's more to this than anyone thinks, I can feel it. He's in danger Duo, I need a shuttle." The hand that held the gun dropped to her side as she pleaded with the man before her.  
  
"He made us promise." Duo raised his hands helplessly.  
  
"You're just going to abandon him?" Midii was incredulous.  
  
"You said yourself he's more than capable of looking after himself."  
  
"And what makes you so sure?"  
  
She was positive that Duo knew more about Trowa than she did and she intended to find the truth.  
  
Duo sighed and for a moment looked as though he was going to evade the question, when he took great interest in the slowly rising gun. He through his hands up in frustration and seemed to be muttering to himself though she caught some of his words, ".why me?.always friends."  
  
He looked up at her then and sighed again. "You want the truth?" Midii nodded and waited patiently for his response. "We, Heero, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, and myself are all Gundam pilots. That's why I'm sure he can look after himself, we're better trained than any soldier alive."  
  
Midii stared at him in shock, his words slowly sinking in, their meaning fully hitting her, "Gundam pilots?" He nodded his head, "but you're so."  
  
"Young?" Duo filled in for her, "we hear that a lot. It's a good cover really, few out there expect us to be so young, and so those searching never find us." He took a step towards her, "Trowa said he would be back in a few days, I wouldn't worry."  
  
Midii slipped her gun back in place and looked up at Duo, she was about to nod her head in agreement when she remembered the image of Trowa, trapped within a nightmare. At any other time she would simply have passed that off as an overactive imagination, but she found now that she could not simply discredit the image. Midii shook her head; "I have to go to him."  
  
Duo rubbed one hand across his eyes; "do you have any idea what he'll do if we let you leave the house?"  
  
She folded her arms calmly across her chest; "I assure you it won't be nearly as bad as what I will do if you don't. And please keep in mind that I'm here now." Her voice was low, she hated threatening Duo in this way, but she knew she had to find Trowa.  
  
"Look" Duo said finally, "I can't change my position in all this, you had best confront Quatre." He turned and began to walk from the room but stopped at the door and half turned, "come on I'll take you to him." She walked up beside him. "One other thing," Duo said extending his hand, "give me your gun."  
  
Midii shook her head mutely, one hand reaching back towards the only weapon she carried, and perhaps the only means by which she would be able to secure a shuttle. "Pulling a gun on Quatre won't work, the only reason we haven't been overrun by guards is because our rooms aren't monitored, however Quatre's office is."  
  
"I don't care what you promised him, I will find a way to the colonies. This business that he's settling is mine to take care of." She never looked at him as she walked from the room, but she could feel his questioning eyes on her back. Duo led her to Quatre's study in silence hands clasped behind his back, eyes locked forward.  
  
A loud crack of thunder and the sounds of torrential rains hitting the roof broke the silence, and Duo spoke softly, "what do you have to base these fears on?"  
  
"Nothing save a sixth sense, that's screaming, 'were missing something' this was never his problem to deal with in the first place."  
  
"What connection to this man do you have?" he probed softly.  
  
"One I would rather forget," was her unfeeling response. He stopped outside a set of double doors and turned to her studying her face for a long time without saying a word finally he did speak.  
  
"I feel it too." Duo opened the door and motioned her in.  
  
Midii took a few steps in and stopped seeing that Quatre was in deep conversation with Draken, they each held within their hand a cup of tea. Both looked up at her entrance and Midii took a step back, "I'm sorry to interrupt."  
  
"No don't be." Quatre said gesturing for her to take the seat beside Draken, which she did without comment. "Draken had planned to leave today, but it would appear the weather has other things in mind." Quatre placed his cup on the desk infront in front of him and smiled at Midii. "Would you like a cup?" he offered.  
  
"No thank you." Midii drew in a calming breath preparing for the answer she dreaded hearing. "I need a shuttle."  
  
Quatre, ever the diplomat, looked at her his face puzzled. "Whatever for?"  
  
Midii's hands took a strong hold of the chair she was sitting in, to keep from leaping at the young businessman, "you know as well as I do that Trowa is not here, I need to find him."  
  
"I'm sorry Midii but I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Funny how people keep saying that and it's always a lie," she responded through clenched teeth. She could feel the tension building in the air, and she was more than aware that if she had to put up with this much longer she would snap. The phone on Quatre's desk rang and all tension flooded from the room, Midii could see a look of relief on Quatre's face as he reached out to answer it.  
  
He lifted the receiver, and listened for a moment before looking to Draken. "It's for you." Quatre passed the phone to the older man and watched, his eyes never meeting Midii's.  
  
"Yes?.are you positive?.Yes, yes begin right away, I'm on the next shuttle."  
  
Draken handed the receiver to Quatre and rose from his armchair, "Forgive me Master Quatre but it would appear that a problem has arisen on one of the colonies, which I must take care of."  
  
Quatre smiled warmly, "It's not a problem, but I afraid you'll have to wait until the storm lightens up."  
  
"Unfortunately there's no time for that, I'll simply have to try and outrun the storm."  
  
"If you believe that is necessary."  
  
Quatre walked around his desk to stand before Draken, and accepted the older man's hand in a friendly shake. "I'll see you to the airport."  
  
"Oh, please do not trouble yourself, you still have matters to attend to here."  
  
Draken glanced at Midii with a gentle smile on his face, but a strange light within his eyes. Quatre glanced at Midii, it was a glance that spoke volumes, he then turned back to the other man and walked from the room.  
  
Midii clenched her hands in frustration, Quatre would be even harder to convince than Duo, and with nothing to base her fears on Midii began to believe that here was nothing to them to begin with. She pushed the thought away and stood, her eyes travelling out the windows to the storm beyond, the ferocity of the weather strengthened her resolve that something had to be done and soon. She only contemplated how to show the others that there was more to this than what appeared on the surface.  
  
She was vaguely aware of the door opening and she glanced up to see the woman Sally enter the room, her eyes instantly falling on Midii where she stood frozen in thought. She smiled brightly and walked to stand beside her, "I don't believe we've ever met before. My name is Sally Po, I'm a doctor with the Preventers."  
  
Midii mentally shook herself from her thoughts and turned to face the older woman. "Midii Une," briefly, her mind however was still far from focusing on what was going on around her. "What are the quickest routes out of this house?" she asked softly, eyes distant.  
  
Sally looked at her for a moment seeming surprised by the question; "I know why you're asking, and though I can't help you in that way maybe I can assist you in another."  
  
Midii's eyes snapped to hers fully alert now, both women slowly took seats across from one another.  
  
"I can see it in your eyes you believe there's something more to all this don't you."  
  
"Yes, but I can't say what."  
  
"I know how you feel, it can't just be this simple, I have a feeling there is someone whispering in Kain's ear. Unfortunately there's no information to prove any of it."  
  
"I need to find Trowa, until we know fully what's going on I believe he's in danger." Midii stood once more, "I need to find Quatre and convince him, to let me find Trowa."  
  
"He won't break his promise." Sally said looking up at her.  
  
"I don't care, I'll do anything it takes to find Trowa." She began to walk towards the exit, face set, when the thick oak door opened and Quatre walked in.  
  
"I was talking to Duo, you know now why we are not worried about his safety. He'll be back." Quatre slipped one hand in his pocket as he watched her.  
  
"That simply is not good enough. Kain is my problem." Midii knew that they would not leave simply because she felt Trowa was in danger they all had too much respect for him. So she decided to try a different tactic.  
  
"Why?" he asked calmly.  
  
"He killed my family." Midii said eyes blazing, she would tell him no more of her past.  
  
"Trowa's afraid you'll get hurt."  
  
"I made it through the war, didn't I?" Midii shot back.  
  
"No one can predict the future" the young businessman folded his arms and seemed rather satisfied with himself.  
  
"Which is why you should not be so sure things are as simple as they first appear. If you were talking with Duo then you know that we both believe there is something more to this." She took a step towards him, "we need to warn Trowa."  
  
Quatre studied her for a long while his eyes speculative, as he weighed the information she had just thrown at him, against the promise he had made. Finally he sighed, "I too feel there is more to this, however I hoped it was just me."  
  
"It's not Quatre, and Trowa's in danger because of it." She spoke coaxingly and took another step towards him.  
  
"Alright we'll leave as soon as the weather permits."  
  
The door behind Quatre opened and Duo walked through, holding a thoroughly distraught Erik in his arms. The baby had clearly been crying for some time, his face red and voice hoarse. One hand clung to Duo's shirt but Erik did not cuddle close, instead he pushed himself away, and continued to wail. Duo's face showed clear the worry that he was feeling, "We've tried everything to calm him but nothing's worked."  
  
Midii stepped forward then to take the small child into her arms, for a moment Erik struggled, wanting to be free; but when she began to soothingly talk to him he lay flat against her. Tears still fell from his tiny eyes, and his little chest heaved with his shuddered sobs, but at least he calmed a little. "He want's Trowa," Midii whispered softly, eyes locked on the crying child.  
  
  
  
***  
  
Trowa woke slowly, his mind feeling as though it was stuffed with cotton; his eyes refused to focus on anything in the room, he simply lay there trying not to breathe, for every breath sent pain lancing through his broken ribs. Trowa attempted to push everything from his mind, and with weak muscles tried to rise from his bed. The movements of throwing aside his blankets and swinging his legs off the bed caused the entire world to spin about him. He dropped his head down into the comforting darkness of his hands, and tried to forget the feel of everything reeling around him. Slowly he began to breathe again and was able to once more look about his room, though his eyes were still unclear.  
  
He sat there for a moment looking about his room. His prison, if it could even be called that, had nothing on the walls save a large air duct and no furnishing other than the bed he sat upon. His emerald eyes fell upon the door and at first it appeared to be like any other, but he realised with very little surprise that it had no doorknob making it impossible for him to escape from that side. He climbed unsteadily to his feet and began to walk towards the door when his legs gave out on him and he fell against the wall, his surroundings reeling yet again.  
  
With great determination Trowa finally made his way to the door and glanced out the small glass window in the hopes that he might discover where it was he was being held. However he found nothing beyond his prison door that could help him. Turning away from the door his eyes fell upon the ventilation shaft and he moved towards it keeping one hand on the wall for support at all times.  
  
-What did they do to me- he wondered as he began to feel the room tip again. Trowa closed his eyes and silently willed his surroundings to be still. He inched his way towards the air duct not allowing himself to hope that they could possibly have missed something so obvious. Trowa found however that the grate was easy to pry free. This made him both suspicious and wary, he could not help asking himself why they had left him such an easy escape. Perhaps they knew he would not be in any real shape to flee, but he quickly decided that he would have to take the risk, and hope whatever drug they had used would wear off before he met up with any adversaries  
  
Slowly he worked his way into the air duct, and silently closed it behind him, Trowa had no way of knowing how often, if ever, 'They' walked by his room, so he moved quickly. Trowa paused when the air duct split off in two directions for the first time, he had no way of knowing what the layout of the base was like, however he felt pretty sure that it could not be too different from the others he had infiltrated. So he continued on as he had for those missions hoping his guess would be right.  
  
He was forced to stop a number of times as waves of dizziness threaten the stability of the world, but always was he moving again in seconds, refusing to waste any more time. Trowa lost track of time in the ventilation system though he had not really been sure of the time when he had first climbed in. The endless gray corridor seemed to go on and on, always the same and Trowa lost track of time, although he really had not been sure of the time when he started out. A few times he heard passing conversations below him but he could never make out what they were saying.  
  
Trowa was moving with great caution down the shaft when he saw coming up before him a wire grate, he instantly became wary. Slowly he inched his way forward glancing down into the room below. It appeared to be some type of living quarters, the furniture was well-made but sparse, and thankfully it seemed to be deserted.  
  
Trowa carefully removed the grate with trembling hands, he willed them to steady but they would not respond. Resting the grate beside him Trowa lowered himself into the room, the bullet wound on his shoulder burned in protest at the exertion it was being put through.  
  
Once on the ground Trowa dropped into a defensive crouch and glanced about. The room was indeed empty, for the time being at least there was no threat. He straightened and took a step towards the door, but again his vision gave way, as did the floor beneath him. Trowa fell forward catching himself on a nearby table and dropped his head, he closed his eyes tightly and waited. Finally the room became stable once more and he was able to stand. Trowa careful not to turn his head too fast looked around him for anything that might come in handy. The only thing he found was a combat knife.  
  
Walking over to where is rested on a dresser, Trowa took it by the hilt and carefully tested its edge, it had been well taken care of. Hefting the blade Trowa instinctively adjusted his grip to the way he had been taught, with the dull edge of the blade resting against his forearm. Now armed, he made for the door, and his freedom. The door opened without a sound, and the hall beyond Trowa found to be empty, of anything living. He remained standing in the doorway for a moment trying to decide which way to go, he finally chose right, since that was the general direction he had been heading in.  
  
Trowa started out at a walk but quickly picked up his pace, feeling as though something were about to happen. His vision wavered but he kept on running knowing that now he could not afford to stop for anything. Trowa soon became lost in the never-ending corridors, he never even stopped to consider which hall he would go down next, all he could think about was the need to get away. He skidded around a corner and came face to face with an armed soldier.  
  
Knowing the stunned enemy was vulnerable, Trowa struck instantly, the element of surprise was his. His combat knife sunk deep into the soldier's unguarded side. Blood spilled over the dagger onto Trowa's hand but he paid it no mind as he pulled it free preparing for another strike. The soldier's scream filled his ears and pierced his heart, he knew that voice. Trowa's vision finally cleared and he found himself facing Midii, her beautiful crystal eyes clearly displaying the pain he had inflicted.  
  
"Trowa.? Why.?" Her hands trembled, as the life in her eyes slowly faded away. She fell against him her blood spilling onto him.  
  
Trowa stared at her in horror and slowly he sunk to the ground, with Midii's body held tightly in his arms.  
  
"No." he whispered unable to comprehend what he had just done. "NNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
He had killed her, torn the life from the only woman he had ever loved. Midii's body slipped limply from his blood covered arms and lay before him; her eyes still wide open. Her blank, staring eyes were all he could see, he remembered them full of life and the laughter that she so often shared with those around her, he had taken it from her.  
  
He tore his eyes away from her unmoving form and stared down at his hands, the hands of a Gundam pilot, the hands of a murderer. Even in times of peace he could not stop the killing, all he had ever brought was pain. He had no right to bear the name she had ever uttered, he could no longer stand himself as Trowa Barton, nor could he simply become once more the nameless soldier, for then it was as Nanashi that he had first met her. He began to drift away from the world he had thought he knew, and his thoughts crumbled, and scattered like dust at the sight of the blonde angel before him, a pool of her blood fanning out around her like wings.  
  
The young man climbed to his feet and backed away from the body, tears streamed down his face but he could not say why. He glanced down to where a bloody knife rested at his feet, and his mind raced. The world fell away into nothingness; he could not recall anything about himself or the world in which he stood. His eyes ran down the blade of the knife, he did not belong in this world, his hand reached for the knife.  
  
Enough!  
  
Blackness surrounded him, who was he?  
  
***  
  
The lights in the room glowed dimly illuminating the solitary figure seated in one chair. Though his rigid posture would have made many think otherwise, the man was quite relaxed, however it would take a great deal of training to surprise him. These rooms were well known to him, since he had spent most of his life outside of training and missions within them. They were simple, with very little furniture, only two chairs, his bed, and a place for his clothes, but then that was all he needed. He did not spend all that much time here, his continuing missions kept him quite busy.  
  
Triton Bloom looked up as the door to his room opened and Argile walked in. He was not too much older than Triton but he was the one who gave the orders. Triton could remember his first mission working for Argile more than ten years ago. They had never really become friends, but each trusted the other to cover their back. Triton came to his feet and turned to face him, eyes empty, he rarely showed any emotion.  
  
"Triton," at the sound of his name a memory flashed through his mind but it moved faster than he could remember it, "we have a new mission for you."  
  
Argile handed him a white folder. Triton opened the folder and read the information provided, "a Gundam pilot has infiltrated the base, he is as yet unaware that we know he's here, dispose of him."  
  
Triton looked up from the picture that rested on top of the other information, and locked eyes with Argile. "How did he get through?"  
  
"A glitch in the system, mostly luck." Argile shrugged and turned towards the door. Triton moved to follow, pulling a gun from his belt, he checked the ammunition and switched off the safety.  
  
"Once you're done report back to me."  
  
They split company once they left his room, Argile heading for his office, knowing full well that the situation would be taken care of, and Triton moving off in the best direction to surprise the Gundam pilot. The halls slipped by in an endless stream, hundreds of doors leading to different rooms and still more corridors, the base was very extensive. Cocking his gun Triton edged around the next corner knowing that he was drawing close to where the pilot should have been by now considering the delay, from when he entered to when Triton caught wind of him.  
  
Triton pulled back around the corner, and pressed his back to the wall, the pilot was coming, and the element of surprise was his. He was more than aware that with a Gundam pilot he would have to use extra caution. But one bullet could kill the pilot just as easily as any one else, they were not immortal. Drawing in a calming breath, he began counting the steps, the pilot was taking, they were long and even, unsuspecting. The pilot rounded the corner slowing slightly, as though he felt there was some reason to be more cautious.  
  
Smoothly rolling off the wall Triton swept out into the center of the hall gun raised; a single bullet already fired before he even caught a glimpse of the intruder. For an instant time seemed to stop as Triton saw the bullet slam home into the pilot's body. A look of surprise washed over the pilot's face as his life's blood began to pour from the wound in his chest. Triton had struck a vital area, the man did not have long to live and he did not possess the strength to raise his own gun in response. Time sped forward instantly, and the moment was gone lost into memories. The pilot fell without a sound, and without a fight, a look of surprise frozen on his features. Triton stepped forward, a sneer of disbelief forming slowly on his face. This was a Gundam pilot? He could hardly believe it was true, this was what OZ and White Fang had such trouble killing?  
  
Triton came to a stop beside the dead body and could not believe his eyes; it had taken almost no effort to kill him, why had so many others failed to do so? Triton left soon after, with no more answer than he had come with but hundreds more questions. He did not once look back at the pilot's unmoving form. What right did a killer of children have to live? In his mind, none. His long stride carried him quickly to Argile's office where he had been told to report once the mission had been completed. Part of him wondered why they had sent him, there were many other qualified soldiers in the base, but perhaps he was more so. Triton did not know that either, he had not often socialised with the men around him preferring to be alone.  
  
Slipping his gun back into its holster, Triton knocked on Argile's office door, he was only made to wait a moment before he heard his superior's response. Walking slowly in Triton glanced about; the room was far from simple and inexpensive. Deep leather chairs sat here and there about the room, beside each a delicately carved table. Argile sat behind his large oak desk sifting though sheets of paper, with one hand he gestured for Triton to make himself comfortable, and he did so, waiting silently.  
  
Minutes passed and still Argile did not come to speak with him. It made Triton wonder what could possibly be so important. Was the threat of a Gundam pilot not on their list of top priorities? Triton found all of this confusing, but he would not ask, what he needed to know would be told to him.  
  
Finally Argile came and sat on the arm of the chair opposite Triton's. "Report." Was all he said.  
  
Triton instantly came to his feet, snapping to attention, "sir, I have killed the Gundam pilot Trowa Barton." 


	8. chapter 8

Nanashi Chapter 8  
  
I do not own Gundam Wing..which really sucks!  
  
I'm so sorry it's been so long, I just want to let you all know that this story will be completed, actually it's all written out, and only needs to be typed and edited. Thanks to all for being so patient ^_^ here's a nice long chapter for all of you  
  
I'd also like to thank Midii Une You're the greatest ^_^ thanks so much for editing for me ^_^ !!!! You are the King of Men!!!!!!!!!!  
  
***  
  
Midii paced back and forth along the length of the living room, they had only arrived hours ago and already they were preparing to make a strike on Kain's base. The pilots were not wasting any time in bringing their friend back, they continued to ask questions to which she did not respond, in her mind she felt as though she had already said to much to Quatre. After this night she would have no ties with this man, Midii intended to see that end. Her anger at Trowa was gone now, and had been replaced with something she was not entirely familiar with.  
  
They had left Erik on earth in the care of one of Quatre's many sisters, and already she missed him, the way he smiled and cooed when Trowa came into a room. It brightened her soul, to see the two of them together, and witness a side of Trowa few even thought existed. The artificial lights of the colony was slowly beginning to fade, Midii stopped pacing by the unveiled window and stared up at the sky to the other side of the colony, where Kain's base was located. Lights in the room came on suddenly causing Midii to turn as Duo walked in hands crammed down into his pockets. They had taken up residence in the Bèovel family's old home, it felt strange to her to be living in the house that they had been murdered in, but it was necessary.  
  
"We're almost ready." Duo said coming to stand beside her, "we'll have Trowa back before the night is through you can be sure of that." He smiled, and she could tell he was trying to cheer her up, though she could not bring herself to respond, "come on, you make it seem as though we'll never find him."  
  
Midii laughed slightly, "strange dream, which I can't seem to shake that's all." She rubbed the back of her neck, turning away from both Duo and the window.  
  
"You wanna talk about it?" he gently asked.  
  
"No" Midii smiled over her shoulder; "it was just a dream." A dream of Trowa trapped in a corner, mind torn, eyes bleeding with the horror of what he was being forced to face alone. Midii ran one hand through her hair, trying to banish the image from her mind forever.  
  
"Well in that case, we had better meet with the others, so we can get started." Duo turned and started to walk from the room, braid swinging behind him.  
  
Glancing out the window one last time, Midii quickly followed after, hands trembling, slightly, though she tried to stay them. One hand strayed back behind her to where she carried her gun, and her fingers gently stroked its cold surface. Kain would pay for what he had done to her and Trowa. She walked into the dining room where Heero, and Duo waited, Heero was typing as usual at his computer, but she was not sure what it was he was doing.  
  
Quatre walked in slowly, a piece of paper held before him which he was reading intently, "how much longer Heero?" he inquired without looking up.  
  
"Two minutes, if that." Was the monotone response.  
  
"You're sure we'll have enough time?" Duo leaned back in his chair looking completely relaxed, as always.  
  
"It may take them all night to finish the repairs. We'll be done well before then." Heero said his fingers never pausing in their motions.  
  
Midii flipped a chair around and sat upon it, resting her arms upon it she dropped her head to them. "How is this all going to work?" She questioned finally, for the most part she was not too interested, her mind was only on the end results, but she knew it was important that she be aware.  
  
"Simple," Duo spoke leaning forwards, dropping his feet to the floor, "you'll stay with Quatre and myself during the mission, Heero and Wufei are going to rig the base to explode and remove any of the resistance."  
  
"You have taken into account that Kain has a high tech security system, haven't you?" she cocked her head to one side not entirely sure she liked the boyishly enthusiastic glow in Duo's eyes.  
  
"Please, what do you think Heero's doing right now?"  
  
"All right," Heero said standing, closing his laptop, just as Wufei entered the room along with Sally. S he was not going to be joining them but instead was going to try and make contact with Draken. Midii came to her feet with the rest of them and they all walked from the house, Sally spoke softly to Quatre before disappearing back into the large house. They all climbed silently into the nondescript grey van, and had soon left the Bèovel home behind.  
  
Duo drove down the roads at a recklessly fast pace but Midii had not realised they were going that fast until she glanced at the speedometer. He handled the van smoothly, taking the less travelled back roads. Time slipped by, as did the scenery, and nothing was said, the pilots seemed focused and ready, but she thought to herself when had they not? As they drew nearer to the base Heero opened his computer and again began to type, his fingers racing with speed and precision.  
  
As the van pulled to a stop a short distance from the base Heero hit the last key and all the lights went out, street lamps, houses, everything. She ducked low, glancing up at the side of the colony they had come from; nothing shone from there either. Midii turned to Heero with some surprise.  
  
"Security doesn't work without electricity." He responded without looking.  
  
"What about back up generators?"  
  
"I took care of his." Heero placed his computer to one side and stepped from the van, shrugging a backpack over one shoulder, Wufei carried one much the same. They wasted no time covering the short distance to the base, Heero, and Wufei quickly slipped ahead, their feet carrying them silently.  
  
Duo pulled Midii off to one side before entering; he brought forward a small computer and handed it to her. "As far as we can tell this is where he's being held." He whispered pointing to the room on the display.  
  
She nodded looking up into his eager eyes, "what's the fastest route?"  
  
He smiled, "I already have it memorised." Duo took the lead walking into the base with Quatre silently bringing up the rear. They met up with no one as they moved unnoticed through the halls, Midii began to find this very disturbing, a feeling of dread forming in the pit of her stomach.  
  
"Do either of you find the lack of soldiers strange?" she questioned in a low voice.  
  
"Yes." Quatre responded just as quietly, "but there's nothing we can do about it now."  
  
"We're almost there as it is," Duo agreed.  
  
They rounded the corner, and Duo picked up his pace making for a small nondescript door, the door they believed Trowa was hidden behind. Without power none of the locks worked, Duo quickly pried the door opened, and walked in Midii following close behind him. She stopped dead in her tracks as she looked upon the room, it was empty, but that was not what caught her eyes.  
  
A lone chair sat in the middle of the small room it was made of solid metal, and had restraints at both the arms and legs, blood covered it in more than one place. A discarded syringe lay at the foot of the chair; Midii walked deeper into the room hands moving to her neck as she looked down at the chair. "What did they do to him?" she asked in a small voice, looking to Duo for the answer she knew he did not know.  
  
Quatre brought a communicator to his lips, "Heero, he's not here, they must have moved him. Have you found anyone else in the base?"  
  
"No" the was a long pause, "find Kain, he should have some answers."  
  
"Right, how long till your finished?"  
  
"Twenty minutes. Stealth no longer matters."  
  
Duo drew his gun turning his back to the small room, "let's go." Midii's fingers closed about the handle of her gun before she even noticed, she brought it before her eye and cocked it. Kain would pay. They ran through the base making their way towards the central staircase, once there the flights of stairs seemed to be endless. But Midii's anger carried her; she stayed at Duo's side as they flew up the stairs.  
  
"You know where Kain's room is?" she gasped out inquiringly through deep gulping breaths. Duo nodded silently not bothering to waste breath to reply. They made it to the top floor, and sped down the twisting halls Duo taking the lead, not hesitating in his choice of which hall to take. They finally came to a long straight corridor, which led to a set of double doors. Duo came to a stop just outside of them, catching his breath.  
  
"Quatre." He reached out one hand and took the communicator, which was offered to him. "Heero is there any way to get power to the main elevator, we're going to run out of time up here."  
  
"I'll see what I can do."  
  
Duo crammed the small object into his pocket, straightening he walked forward and reached for the handle of the doors. They opened without a sound, and together the three walked in. A large desk sat at the other side of the room before massive floor to ceiling windows, the great leather chair was facing away from them. Midii took the lead then holding her gun out in plain sight, she stopped a few steps before Kain's desk and waited silently, he was aware of their presence.  
  
The chair spun around slowly, Kain's cold eyes locking onto Midii's, he blinked in surprise, recognising her immediately. "I thought I got rid of you a long time ago." His voice grated on her bones and she was forced to suppress a shudder  
  
She shrugged, raising her gun; "you thought wrong, where is he?"  
  
"He? Oh you must mean the man who broke in two days ago." Kain paused studying her for a moment anticipating her reaction, "dead most likely, Argile took him, but where he went I have no idea."  
  
"You lie." Midii all but shouted, he was only telling her that which she did not wish to hear. Duo stepped up beside her then and lay one hand on her shoulder, he then stepped forward and placed himself before her.  
  
"You have a lot to answer for old man." He said calmly.  
  
"Really, and who might you be?" Kain did not seem in the least bit perturbed, at their presence, or by the fact that they were all brandishing guns.  
  
"Doesn't matter, why did you kill the Bèovel family?" there was a glint in his eyes that had not been there before as he looked down on Kain.  
  
"I thought that would have been clear, money, and to be able to gain control of these colonies, to steer them towards a better future--"  
  
Duo cut in. "Better for who?"  
  
A small smile touched Kain's lips, "doesn't matter."  
  
Midii shook he head, no longer able to put up with these useless questions, the past could not be changed nor did knowledge of it change anything now. What she wanted to know was exactly the opposite. "Who does Argile work for?"  
  
"Clearly not for me," Kain replied in an offhand way. Midii fired at the leather beside his ear, and one eyebrow cocked, "most likely one of the organizations I gave money to."  
  
"None of them have the type of gaols that involve taking a man hostage," Quatre stated quietly as if to himself.  
  
"Not all my transactions, are accounted for," Kain seemed quite pleased with himself, and it took all Midii's self control not to shoot him now.  
  
"Then who?" Midii bit off each word.  
  
"If you made it this far I have full confidence that you'll be able to figure it out." He actually smiled then; Midii changed her aim to between his eyes and was about to pull the trigger when Quatre interrupted her.  
  
"It's time." He said moving towards the door.  
  
Midii remained where she stood unable to take her eyes off the smiling man before her, she wanted so much to end his life but something stayed her finger upon the trigger. She felt frozen, unable to either move or fire, Quatre was already running from the room, Duo not far behind. "Midii come on!" he called when he realised she was not following. She turned then and followed, slipping her gun behind her belt as she did.  
  
"Where's the main elevator?" Quatre called back over his shoulder.  
  
"Follow the hall the turn right, you can't miss it." Duo shouted back, he slowed he pace so that he was running beside Midii. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the communicator. "Heero how long do we have?"  
  
"About one minute, give or take."  
  
"Shit, did you get the elevator working?"  
  
"You're not down yet?" Wufei's voice came over the communicator in shock.  
  
"It's working."  
  
"All right, we're going to make it." Duo smiled to Midii as they raced around the last corner and came in sight of the main elevator, Quatre was already standing inside, pressing the first floor button hurriedly. Together the dashed in just as the doors closed.  
  
Midii stood in the exact centre watching the numbers flash by above, she glanced over her shoulder for a second to see Duo leaning back in one corner eyes fixed on his watch. If she had not known the situation she was have thought him completely relaxed. The elevator finally came to a stop and the door began to slide open, "GO!!" Duo cried, as Quatre was already slipping through them, Midii burst forward seeing the doors out up ahead, they were so close.  
  
"How long do we have?" she inquired legs carrying her as fast as she could move.  
  
"We'll make it." Was all Duo would say.  
  
By this time Quatre was already though the doors, the distance that before had seemed so short now seemed twice as long, and Midii could feel her strength waning. Duo stayed right by her side; "we're almost there! Come on!" Midii found her second wind and charged forward, she and Duo were through the door instantly. She could see the other pilots waiting a safe distance from the building, and seeing them she realised, though they were outside, they could not possibly make it.  
  
Blazing white light illuminated both her and Duo from behind, and for a second time seemed to freeze. She could see everything, her shadow etched with painful precision on the ground before her, the rolling fire ball in the reflective glass before her, and Duo at her side, risking a glance back. The roar of the explosion filled her ears and she was thrown to the ground, pain lanced through her as she struck the ground. Midii could feel Duo's weight pressed closely against her, as the ground shook beneath her.  
  
The ground stilled, and no sound filled the air, Midii tried to draw breath, but the pain forced it away each time. Duo groaned and came to his hands and knees still protectively over top of her. "Told you we'd make it." Midii pushed herself up turning to face Duo, she could see blood upon his face and arms, and tears came to her eyes at the sight of him. She reached out to touch him but found that her right arm would not respond. "You've dislocated your shoulder." He stated simply.  
  
Laying one hand on her arm and bracing the other against her shoulder, Duo wrenched the bone back into place. Midii bit back a cry of pain and blinked away the blackness that threatened to overwhelm her. "You could have made it to safety with Quatre couldn't you?" she asked taking her right arm with her left hand.  
  
Duo smiled, "if it had come to a race I'd of left both of you in my dust."  
  
"Why didn't you?"  
  
His eyes became fierce, "I won't leave a comrade behind."  
  
"Duo! Midii!" Quatre called out into the dust of the fallen building  
  
"Over here!" Duo shouted back, Midii could not find the breath to respond.  
  
Heero came into view then, climbing hurriedly over the rubble that surrounded them. Midii looked about and found that they were actually half buried, and only luck had saved them. "Are you all right?" he asked kneeling beside them.  
  
"Just a little banged up that's all." Duo replied, moving slowly out from under the rubble to stand, the back of his shirt was almost entirely shredded, blood covering him. Midii could hardly believe he called that 'banged up' only a Gundam pilot she supposed silently. Heero reached out a hand to help her to her feet, which she gladly accepted.  
  
"What did you find out?" Heero did not remove his supporting arm once Midii was standing, for which she was very grateful. The full effect of what she just lived through had finally kicked in and her legs would not hold her weight on their own.  
  
Duo shrugged, pain washing over his face, though he hid it quickly. "It seems that Kain was not entirely on the up and up with regards to who got his money. Anyway, is there a possibility that we can discover what transactions took place?"  
  
"I could work backward, but I need a name," Heero said as they began to slowly work their way through the rubble.  
  
"Argile," Midii breathed, wincing as her arm was jostled moving over a large pile of debris. "He was working for Kain up until two days ago. I always thought this was far too bold a scheme for him, it could be that Argile was whispering in his ear while working for another corporation."  
  
Heero nodded silently, Prussian blue eyes as hard as always, Midii could tell nothing of what he was thinking. Duo wiped the blood from his eyes as they came in sight of Quatre and Wufei. "What part of one minute did you not understand?" the Chinese pilot asked his voice harsh.  
  
Duo smiled, not in the least bit annoyed at the other man's attitude, "what's the fun of a mission if it's not life threatening? I think you're getting soft on us." Wufei glared daggers at the braided Gundam pilot before turning to climb into the van; he took the driver's seat. "We haven't lost him yet," Duo whispered softly into Midii's ear as they both seated themselves in the van.  
  
As the van rolled slowly into motion, and silence settled over those seated within it, Midii could not see their faces, or the scenery that moved by. Her thoughts were trapped inwards on an imaged that had etched itself within her mind. A single room filled with motionless shadows, and a chair, one not meant for comfort, but rather containment. And on that chair, splash upon it like some perverted form of art, was blood.Trowa's blood. As the time slipped by a single tear slipped from Midii's eye, but she did not notice, she could not notice anything.  
  
***  
  
Argile moved down the halls of the base not paying any attention to those he passed, they were the least things on his mind. He seemed only able to think about one thing, the former Gundam pilot they had captured. The young man had changed drastically since he had first been brought in; nothing save his appearance, and deadly accurate skills remained the same. That was something Argile found rather disturbing.  
  
The young man if he could even be called that, only recently turned eighteen, was more deadly than Argile could ever hope to be, with his entire life put into the study. There was a strange light buried deep in his eyes, that spoke of a former life not worth living, he did not seem effected by anything he saw of did. There was almost no limit to what he was capable of accomplishing, and no hesitation in his movements.  
  
Argile had expected some resistance, but the pilot had given them none, he was fully ready to work entirely for them. And it was exactly this that he was going to report to his superior. His long strides carried him quickly through the groups of soldiers and facility workers; these men were unaware, for the most part only that which they needed to know was told to them. The rest was not their concern. Hell some did not even know what they were fighting for; it was the need to be a part of the lifestyle they had known that brought them.  
  
The halls became less and less crowded the closer he came to the top floor and main office. The man in charge was not seen often, but during the times he had been around he had gained the full and complete support of his men, offering them a future they could all work towards. It was these plans that only Argile was privy to, however things had already turned out to be easier than he had first suspected. He came before a large set of double doors, with a picture of the earth and colonies carved into it.  
  
Argile reached forward and hit a small button on the wall, almost instantly the doors swung opened and he walked in. The room was not very light, the curtains had been drawn and the lights dimmed, a large monitor on the wall to his right displayed an image of Triton, sparring with another man, he was clearly winning. The older man who sat behind the desk came to his feet and walked towards the monitor, his eyes impressed, he turned his back on Argile, "report."  
  
"His talents as you have seen are almost without limits, he has accepted every mission we've given to him without hesitation." Argile scratched his chin, "it makes me wonder if this is all one big performance."  
  
"No, that's not possible" the man did not move as he spoke, "I have had the opportunity to observe him for some time, he's not that good of an actor." Draken turned, "having him kill himself was one thing." he walked over to his desk and grabbed a white folder. "Give him this, with strict orders the terrorist must be killed." He handed the white folder to Argile.  
  
"I'll be gone for some time." He continued pulling another folder across his desk, "If this mission goes well, give him this one." The folder he handed Argile was black; he knew the meanings of the colours all too well. He nodded silently and moved from the room to prepare for his meeting with Triton.  
  
***  
  
Triton sat alone in his room the lights on and the air warming his exposed skin. He had just finished a sparring match and was resting silently in his room, awaiting his next mission. His eyes stared forward at nothing as he tried to puzzle out questions that needed answering, but he could not remember them. Every time he tried Triton could only see a small girl with auburn hair calling his name, this puzzled him exceedingly.  
  
He tried to remember who she was, but failed, her name would not come to him, even though the memories were so strong. What confused him the most was he could not recall one time that they had actually met. Triton shrugged coming to his feet; he walked across the small expanse of his room, and grabbed a black shirt from where it had been tossed over the back of a chair. He slipped it on but left it undone as he turned at the sound of his door opening.  
  
Argile walked in calmly, face unreadable, but Triton sensed there was an unease about him. "We have a new mission for you." He said abruptly, stopping a few steps away from where Triton stood. He passed a white folder across the short distance. "Kill him."  
  
Triton opened the folder and quickly read over the information that had been provided, concerning the terrorist's whereabouts. He flipped the first page aside, and his emerald eyes fell upon the picture of a young man with unruly brown hair and dead Prussian blue eye. Triton tossed the folder aside having committed everything to memory already. He half turned and reached for where his gun rested on a table, he slipped it behind his belt and once more turned to face his superior.  
  
"All arrangements have been made, proceed to the shuttle bay." Triton nodded in silent response, and walked from the room. All terrorists would be destroyed.  
  
***  
  
The artificial sunlight filled the air around Triton as he calmly walked through the colony. He had arrived only hours before and was closing in on the terrorist. He was aware of everything around him though he blocked from his thoughts anything that was not an immediate threat. The people that moved though the streets paid him no mind, he passed through them, like just another shadow, his eyes firmly set on his target.  
  
As he drew nearer to his destination, Triton cut away from the crowds and moved down a long shadowed alleyway. He moved through the shadows quickly not trusting in the security that they offered. Triton came to the end of the alley and stopped, his emerald eyes focusing on the large house ahead, he could not help but think it strange, to see such a fine house in such a crowded residential area. A large wall encircled the home, which was covered with ivy in more than one place.  
  
The three-story house was richly built of white marble, and seemed entirely out of place surrounded as it was by the narrow brick apartment buildings. Triton however pushed that all aside and emerged from the shadows to cross the street, few people walked this street, making for fewer witnesses to his presence. Triton edged closer to the ivy-covered wall and eased his way around the back where he could not be watched. With no effort he vaulted over the eight-foot wall, and crouched low in the gardens on the other side.  
  
For a time he did not move, simply waited silently, watching to see if any had noticed him. His emerald eyes panned upwards to rest upon the open door of a balcony, his only unguarded entrance into the house. Triton kept to the edge of the garden wall as he made his way towards the large home, and was pleased to find that the walls were rough, providing excellent hand holds. He scaled the walls in seconds and was over the rail of the balcony, eyes darting about.  
  
Triton pulled his gun from behind his belt, and with one step he was at the opened door. Glancing in, his eyes fell upon a bedroom, the bed off to one side left for some time unmade. After assuring himself that the room was empty, Triton slipped in. He was hardly in the room before he heard footsteps coming down the hall towards the chamber he was standing in. Triton slipped into the shadows gun automatically trained on the door the terrorist would come through.  
  
He was not made to wait long, the young man walked around the corner, seemingly unaware of Triton's presence. But as Triton began to squeeze the trigger, the former pilot stopped, and looked about suspiciously. Triton fired but the man seemed to know where he was waiting, and dodged to the side narrowly missing being hit. Triton stepped out of the shadows into the light, gun held in plain view.  
  
Pain seared his leg but Triton did not glance down, he could not afford to take his eyes off the former pilot, he was too fast. Even with his astounding reflexes Triton had not caught the motion of the thrown dagger that now protruded from his leg. For an instant they simply stood there facing each other eyes like death. Triton fired the gun again but once more it struck nothing but mortar. He had not been expecting his opponent to be this fast, but as he had been taught he quickly compensated, rapidly firing of the rounds. The terrorist could not possibly dodge them all.  
  
The second bullet struck home with a spray of blood, and the terrorist fell to the floor. Triton walked forward, face devoid of all emotion. His job was still not finished, there were more terrorists to take out, but for now he would focus on the task at hand. Raising his gun Triton looked down upon the struggling man, he was not yet dead. Aiming the gun at his head Triton fired ending Heero Yuy's life.  
  
***  
  
Midii was alone in her room, the lights off and darkness surrounding her, she sat on the edge of the bed cradling, her right arm in her lap. A week had passed and still they had not found Trowa, not even the smallest trace, and this man Argile was just as elusive. The whole situation seemed strange to her, since she did not think there was anyone out there that could avoid a Gundam pilot when they were trying to find you. But this man somehow managed it, Midii was more than aware that the Gundam pilots also felt this was a very strange turn of events but they could not figure out why.  
  
The pilots would never give up though, no matter how frustrating the search might be. Draken was giving all the assistance he could, but there was little he could offer that the Gundam pilots could not do better, but at least he was trying. Midii sighed and looked up rubbing the back of her neck with her left hand, she had left the others some time ago to try and get some sleep. But she could find no rest now, not with Trowa still missing.  
  
The door at the other end of the room opened and Duo walked in hands crammed into pockets, his face instantly became concerned when he say her sitting there. "How's the shoulder."  
  
Midii looked up eyes carefully emotionless, she knew Duo felt guilty for her dislocating her shoulder, even though he had taken shrapnel in the back to protect her. "It's fine." She replied finally, moving her right arm away from her body to prove it, although she wore a reassuring smile to comfort Duo, she winced internally.  
  
He smiled back warmly removing one hand from his pocket to switch on the lights, "what is it with you and Trowa? You're always sitting in the dark."  
  
She shrugged noncommittally, the edges of her lips turning up in a small smile. Midii did not really feel like showing any emotion besides a smouldering anger, but Duo seemed always able to make her smile no matter what was happening. "I guess we just never think about it."  
  
"Humph, an apathy towards light switches is more like it." He came to stand directly in front of her, his eyes held a determined glint much like the other pilots, they were all determined to get Trowa back and could not conceive that they might be defeated in this goal. "Come on dinner's ready, and you haven't eaten since yesterday."  
  
Midii stared him for a time saying nothing, "How did you know that?"  
  
"What, you don't think I have eyes? Besides my second home is the kitchen." He chuckled softly and extended one hand towards her, which she gladly accepted.  
  
They walked in silence through the halls of the large home, the walls where covered with family photos, her crystal eyes fell upon a picture of Erik with his mother, a happy smile on his small face. She sighed, feeling the distance between them, she really missed the small baby in her arms. Duo glanced at her from the corner of one eye, a knowing smile playing on his lips.  
  
Midii walked into the kitchen and saw that only Sally was waiting there, her head came up, as she and Duo walked in. "Where are the others?" Midii asked taking a seat across from the other woman.  
  
"They ate and went back to work, Heero in particular is finding this hard to handle, as far as he's concerned they should have found Trowa days ago, not to mention the role of this mysterious Argile character." She sighed resting her head on one fist. "The fact that it's been a week only baffles them the more."  
  
"I felt like we were so close, only a few days ago, but now." Midii trailed off, taking the plate of food that Duo offered.  
  
"You can't lose hope now!" Sally interjected eyes going wide.  
  
Midii smiled whimsically, "don't worry I haven't, I only wish I could have stopped him from going. None of this would have happened if he had not left to take care of Kain." Nothing was said for some time, as there was nothing to say. Midii was left to her own dark thoughts a sense of foreboding fell upon her in the kitchen, and she stopped seeing the people around her.  
  
She felt as though a great void had opened within her, it had been there before but she had managed to push it away. Now however, with so many days passed, she could not shake the feelings of loss, which threatened to overwhelm her. Darkness swept across her vision and all she could see was her own hands resting on the table before her. She focused upon them alone, could they manage to save him? What had happened to him? Was he even still.  
  
"Hey Midii, what wrong?" she was shaken from her progressively darker thoughts, by Duo's worried voice. She shook her head clearing the blackness from her vision, and looked up to Duo face, "Are you all right?" Midii nodded mutely not trusting herself to speak, she simply turned back to her meal and tried to eat what she could of it, though she was not in the least bit hungry.  
  
Midii pushed her plate away and looked up, into the worried eyes of both Sally and Duo, she quickly looked down again, no longer wanting to meet their combined gazes. Climbing to her feet she moved towards the door, running one hand through her hair as she did. "Midii?" Duo called from behind.  
  
"I'm going to get some sleep." She said turning back over shoulder for a moment eyes trained on the floor.  
  
"Are you sure you're all right?" Sally inquired.  
  
Midii nodded, "Yes, just tired," she turned then and silently left the room.  
  
***  
  
Heero sat alone in the living room, not a sound could be heard save the soft ticking of the keys on his laptop as he attempted to find Trowa. He had risen early that morning to continue his search, and now that it was nearing noon, he had still found nothing. It would be an understatement to say he was annoyed at the lack of progress, he was furious, and even that did not quite express what he felt. He could not understand how Trowa and Argile were eluding their search. With four Gundam pilots working on the situation they should have found him days ago.  
  
But just as Midii had said almost two weeks ago something was not at all right with this situation. Heero looked up from his computer, eyes cold and found as he expected the room was empty, Wufei had left only moments ago, and Duo at least an hour, Quatre was out speaking with Draken. He turned his eyes back to the computer screen and continued his search.  
  
Footsteps coming down the hall drew his attention from what he was doing, he glanced at the door way through the corner of one eye, while his hands continued to fly across the keys. Midii slowly walked around the corner hands clasped behind her back, head down as though she were in deep thought. She looked up as she came a few steps closer. "Any luck?" she asked taking a seat beside him. Heero simply shook his head focusing on the information that raced across the screen.  
  
Midii nodded silently and looked off in the opposite direction, she dropped her head into her hands, "Where else can we look?" Heero knew it was a rhetorical "Are all the calls to Quatre's house recorded?"  
  
Heero paused in his typing and turned to look at her, "On most phones yes, why?"  
  
"I don't know, we've searched everywhere, and found nothing, maybe were looking to far afield." She shrugged coming to her feet, and turned back towards the door, Heero watched her leave, "I just feel the longer we wait the harder it will be to get him back." She left the room, head down.  
  
Heero leaned back, and sat there contemplating what Midii had said. It was true they had searched every possibly place and person for Trowa, all except Draken that was. It did make sense as far as they knew from Kain someone had been working through Argile to orchestrate the assassinations of the Bèovel family. But did Draken have just as much motive as anyone else to want the colonies in his possession? This question intrigued him and he turned back to his computer, easily hacking his way through Quatre's security systems.  
  
It did not take him long to find the phone records that he was looking for, and only a moment longer to activate the vocal recording. As the voices filled the room around him Heero's eyes changed from steel to a molten rage.  
  
***  
  
As soon as Triton returned to base he was handed another folder, containing another mission. This time it was black, but the colour made no difference to him, all the jobs were the same and they all held the same goal-kill all the terrorists. Triton could not remember clearly when the last time he had slept was, but that did not matter. He was more than capable of functioning with little rest, it had been an important part of his training.  
  
He moved with a careful silence through the streets of the colony, a long leather coat billowing out behind him. Triton turned off the main street onto a side road, taking the long way around to his new destination. He had been thoroughly warned that there was more than just one terrorist present in the house but he was for now only to take out one. And in doing so he would instil fear and confusion within their ranks.  
  
Casually leaning against a wall, he studied the security system that the terrorists had put in place, and he quickly found a way through. Triton glanced both ways without appearing to move, then shot forward, crossing over to the large home with no one watching. He slipped through the sizeable gap in and edged his way around the back of the house.  
  
Pressing his back to the brick wall Triton pulled a knife from a sheath at his belt, and made his way towards the small door. Once there he ran his hands along the edges of the door looking for the wires that guarded against unwanted entrances. He found the thin cables, and quickly cut them re-routing them into a small computer that he pulled from his pocket. Slipping the knife back into its sheathe he reached for his silenced handgun.  
  
***  
  
Heero sat back in disbelief, anger boiling through him, as the voices once again filled the room.  
  
-Draken, we have taken a Gundam pilot-  
  
-Are you sure?-  
  
-There's no doubt, no one other than a Gundam pilot could have accomplished what he did, he single-handily took out over a dozen guards. Do you want the testing to begin now?-  
  
-Yes, yes I'm on the next shuttle-  
  
The message ended and Heero had to consciously force his hands to unclench, what was most sickening about the situation was the fact that they had not known, that they had worked along side the bastard. Heero came to his feet and walked from the room looking for Duo, they were a step closer to getting Trowa back. And he wanted to get back to work now.  
  
He quickly made his way towards the kitchen knowing that that would be the place to find the DeathScythe pilot. He was not entirely sure how to take care of the situation, everything had changed. He would have to let Quatre and the others know but for now simply finding Trowa would be enough. Heero picked up his pace; long strides carrying him down the seemingly endless halls.  
  
***  
  
Triton took hold of the doorknob and silently eased it opened, his gun held in an unerring grip before him as he walked in. Instantly his eyes fell upon the terrorist he had been sent to kill, Duo was leaning back in a chair with his feet up on the table, and appeared to be sleeping. He was completely unaware of his situation. Triton levelled the gun at the terrorist's chest and fired.  
  
What would have been a perfect shot, ended up hitting the man in the shoulder. Luck was with this one Triton thought, the terrorist had awoken in just enough time to shift out of the way. Duo fell back to the floor crying out in pain and surprise. "Trowa.? Trowa! What the hell are you doing?!" Duo yelled. Triton stopped dead in his tracks, and actually took a step back, strange memories passing across his vision. He fought them off, running one hand across his eyes. What the hell's happening to me?  
  
***  
  
Heero heard the muffled but distinctive sound of a silenced gun being fired, followed only an instant later, by Duo's scream of shock and pain. Seconds later Heero had his own gun in hand and was racing down the hall, only a few yards from the kitchen. Throwing open the door he dashed through, but skidded to a halt when he actually saw who was in the room.  
  
Prussian blue eyes fell upon Trowa standing across the room, gun held at his side and one hand over his eyes. His hands were trembling visibly; he seemed unaware of his surroundings. Heero glanced over to where Duo sat against the wall blood staining the front of his shirt and the tiles behind him. "Trowa?" Heero questioned softly, taking a careful step forward.  
  
Trowa's head came up and his eyes were unusually dead, a cold gleam shone from deep within them. Heero did not lower his gun but he did ease the grip he had upon the trigger.a little. Trowa's eyes fell upon Heero completely and he took a shocked step back, eyes becoming wide as emotions tore through them. Heero took a small step closer lowering his gun slightly as he did. "Trowa, it's me.what happened to you?"  
  
Once more Trowa covered his eyes with his hand, looking away. He was breathing hard and appeared to be in pain. But Heero did not rush to his aid; this was not at all what it appeared to be. He glanced over to Duo, the former pilot was watching Trowa with the same confusion Heero felt.  
  
***  
  
Triton brought his hand away from his eyes, the memories long forgotten passing back into the deepest recesses of his mind. When he looked up at the terrorist he had shot, he found the young man looking at something to Triton's left. He turned to look himself, and instantly regretted it.  
  
Standing in the doorway gun in hand was the former terrorist Heero Yuy. He was supposed to be dead! Triton had killed him! The ground fell out from under Triton, as his once stable world was turned upside down. He's supposed to be dead! Triton screamed in his mind unable to take his eyes off him, he saw the man's lips move but he could not comprehend what was said. This was the impossible happening.  
  
"Trowa it's me.what happened to you?"  
  
Triton flinched back from the words, and once more covered his eyes as unwanted images bombarded his vision, blinding him completely. He witnessed times and places that could never have been, he had worked for Argile all his life. What was happening to him?  
  
Anger washed over him, and he used it to push the images back locking them away to never be seen again. Triton brought his head up slowly eyes narrowing as he glared at Heero; "You're supposed to be dead." He said coldly.  
  
"What are you talking about Trowa, he's standing right there isn't he?"  
  
Triton swung around on the terrorist gun aimed between his eyes; "My name is Triton!" he was about to pull the trigger, when pain suddenly seared his right arm. His gun dropped from numb fingers as blood spilled down his arm towards the floor below. Triton caught Heero's movement out of the corner of one eye; he was slowly walking towards him. With one last look at Duo Triton ran out the door ignoring the blood that spilled down his arm.  
  
***  
  
Heero placed his gun back inside its holster at the small of his back as he slowly walked towards Duo. Questions raced through his mind but he had no answers for them, so he simply tossed them aside. He could hardly comprehend what had just happened, mind still reeling from the sight of Trowa standing there. What had they done to him? He had no answer for that either.  
  
Taking hold of a small tea towel he tore it in half and knelt down beside his friend. Duo looked up, his eyes slightly pained, "What happened to him?" he questioned. Heero shrugged having no answer, and took hold of Duo shirt, pulling it opened; he pushed one half of the tea towel into the entry wound and the other half into the exit wound. Duo grit his teeth but said nothing.  
  
Heero stood and extended his hand to the other man and pulled him to his feet. Duo took his left arm with his right and straightened, "Draken has him," Heero said bluntly.  
  
"What?!" Duo moved to stand before him eyes disbelieving. "Draken was the one behind all of this?"  
  
Heero nodded silently and began to walk out of the kitchen, Duo walking beside him. "He was the one controlling Argile, what his goals are I don't know but at least we now know why Trowa was so hard to find."  
  
"They had him covering their tracks," Duo filled in, anger sparking into his lavender eyes. "That Bastard!" Heero nodded silently and continued to walk down the halls without saying a word, eyes harder than Duo's could ever hope to be. "So what do we do now?"  
  
Heero looked over to the injured man, "Let Quatre know what happened, and get Wufei back here, knowing Trowa's been concealing himself we'll have an easier time finding him." He spoke without emotion, not really thinking about his words, his mind was on other matters, such as what he would do to Draken once they found him. Chances were that he would soon discover from his own sources that they now knew he was the one behind it. He would soon be as easy to find as Trowa had been.  
  
Pulling open one door that looked like all the others Heero walked in, Duo only a step behind, lying on her bed though not at all asleep was Sally. She sat up the moment they walked in, and jumped to her feet when her eyes feel upon Duo. "What happened," She asked coming forward.  
  
"We found Trowa," Heero said simply, when he saw her shocked and confused look he elaborated. "Draken was the one behind everything, he did something to Trowa to turn him against us."  
  
Sally was already beginning to peel Duo's shirt aside when Heero turned to leave, "Where are you going?"  
  
"To find Wufei, inform Quatre, and break the news to Midii," He stated hand on the doorknob.  
  
"Hey let me tell her," Duo said pushing Sally's hands away.  
  
Heero looked back over his shoulder, "Stay here and let Sally look after your shoulder, we may be making a strike on Draken soon." With that he left the room.  
  
***  
  
Duo looked at the closed door for a second before he made his way towards it, fully intent on telling Midii himself. "Duo where do you think you're going?" Sally inquired. Shouldering a bag and coming up behind him.  
  
"To tell Midii what happened," he said, pulling the door opened.  
  
"You heard Heero." Sally started to say, but Duo cut her off.  
  
"Yeah I heard." He grated harshly, "and there's no way in Hell I'm going to allow 'Mr. No Feelings Perfect Soldier' tell her Trowa shot me." He walked out of the room.  
  
"Duo, most people would hardly be conscious right now."  
  
"Right, and how many times have we Gundam pilots proven how unlike most people we are?" Duo continued to walk down the halls.  
  
"You should be lying down right now," Sally replied, her voice floating down the hall after him.  
  
"Not a chance."  
  
"Could you at least stand still for a few moments?" Sally pleaded.  
  
Duo shook his head; "I'm fine, Heero telling her won't do any good."  
  
"And you think walking in there covered in blood will?" Sally asked raising one eyebrow.  
  
Duo glanced at her through one eye, he did not respond, but continued walking. Unfortunately he was not entirely sure where Midii was, so he headed towards her bedroom, with Sally right along side.  
  
*** 


	9. chapter 9

Nanashi  
  
Chapter 9  
  
I do not own Gundam Wing  
  
  
  
  
  
Midii sat in one of the deep armchairs in her room head resting upon one fist, her mind still turning over what she knew about Draken. Early that morning, though she did not know what brought the thought on, she realised that they had searched everywhere but among their own ranks. And the more she considered it the more she saw that Draken had just as much motive as anyone else. Not to mention small things that he had said, that did not quite make sense. So many little things started to flash in her memory as a dreadful suspicion formed in the pit of her stomach.  
  
She had wondered how he could possibly have known about the assassinations, he had said that an informant had told him, which was not a lie. Argile had been his soldier on the inside. He had made sure Erik had survived, but why? To gain control of the colonies? Yes that was part of it, but why would he need the money, or was it money at all?  
  
Midii climbed to her feet feeling restless, and walked over to the large windows, her crystal eyes looking out through the glass and falling upon the gardens beyond. She ran her left hand through her hair and sighed, unable to clear her thoughts fully of her musings about Draken. Midii's head came up as the door behind her opened, and she looked about, watching warily as Heero walked in.  
  
Turning fully she walked across the room to meet him, she noticed with some interest that there was a strange light in his eyes.  
  
"Heero? What is it?"  
  
He stopped, and did not immediately respond. Midii could feel a sense of fear grip her heart at this unusual behaviour.  
  
"We've made some progress."  
  
The door burst opened and they both turned, as Duo and Sally came in. Any thoughts of what Heero had to say flew from Midii's mind when she saw Duo. Blood stained his shirt down the front of his arm and chest.  
  
"Duo what happened?" He came forward and took her arm in his good hand leading her to the edge of the bed.  
  
Duo sat down drawing her with him.  
  
"We have good news and some bad news."  
  
Once more fear gripped Midii's heart as she watched Duo, trying to anticipate he was going to say. "Duo just tell me what happened." She saw out of the corner of one eye Heero silently leaving the room.  
  
"Draken is the one who has Trowa," Duo started slowly, eyes downcast. "Trowa was here a few moments ago."  
  
"Duo what are you trying to say?"  
  
"I don't know what Draken did to him, but he's calling himself Triton now, he shot me." Duo looked down, seeming unable to meet her eyes.  
  
Midii stared at him for a long time unable to speak or understand, she looked away to Sally, tears coming to her eyes. Trowa was calling himself Triton. He had shot Duo. It all seemed so unreal, what had they done to him?  
  
"How did this happen?"  
  
"Midii." Duo said softly, her eyes fell back upon him and she instantly felt sorry that she had spoken. How could he possibly answer that question.  
  
"Where is he now? Or do you even know?"  
  
Duo shook his head. "We don't know, but we'll have an easier time finding him knowing now that Draken has him, and that Trowa has been the one hiding his own trial."  
  
Midii reached forward and took hold of Duo shirt, feeling the need to focus on something other than the news she had just been given. Pulling the cloth aside she spoke quickly, "We need to take care of this."  
  
"Finally someone else who sees things my way." Sally said kneeling down at the edge of the bed, and placing her bag on the floor beside her. Duo silently rolled his eyes.  
  
Slipping Duo's shirt from his shoulders Midii pulled it free and was about to lay it aside when Sally looked up and took hold of the black cloth tossing it in a trash bin off to one side.  
  
"Hey that's mine!" Duo said indignantly, looking in shocked disbelief at his favourite black shirt.  
  
Sally locked eyes with him, "It's black and bloodstained, you have dozens of them."  
  
Duo simply stared, unable to speak, he remained silent as Sally cleaned the wound as best she could and began to bandage it.  
  
"Where did Heero get off to?" Midii inquired helping Sally in any way she could.  
  
"Quatre still doesn't know about Draken and neither does Wufei. Once everyone's back here we'll most likely begin planning a strike on Draken's base." Sally replied dusting her hands on her legs. She reached into her bag and pulled free a small black case, she drew from it a syringe and began to prepare it.  
  
"Whoa! Hold on, what the hell's in that?" Duo asked suspiciously.  
  
Sally sighed dramatically, "It's an antibiotic Duo, in case you haven't realised, you've only recently been shot."  
  
"Yeah, and unless you can prove to me that that's not some type of drug cocktail put it away."  
  
Duo's eyes narrowed, Midii sat by wondering what was happening, but remained silent.  
  
"You need to be in top condition for when we make a strike on Draken," Sally said. Despite Duo's stubborn resistance she showed no sign of putting the item in question away.  
  
"Well that exactly my point now isn't it?" Duo said, raising one eyebrow at her cynically.  
  
Sally rolled her eyes, and placed the syringe back into the box and climbed to her feet, "You're so suspicious!"  
  
"Keeps me alive, or at least conscience," Duo smiled.  
  
"Fine," she sighed, walking towards the door. "Come down to the living room as soon as you're ready."  
  
"Why were you so suspicious of Sally?" Midii asked walking into the bathroom and wetting a cloth.  
  
"She doesn't like the way we Gundam pilots ignore our injuries, so when we are hurt she tries to give us some well needed rest."  
  
Midii walked from the bathroom and began to gently wash the blood off his arm and chest. "Because of this we've become suspicious when she pulls a needle on us."  
  
"I see." Midii continued to wash the blood from him. "Was Trowa like that?"  
  
She did not know why she asked but part of her wanted to know, even though it made no difference.  
  
Duo took hold of Midii's hand stopping the constant motion, and brought her face about to look directly at him.  
  
"We'll get him back Midii, I promise you."  
  
She nodded silently breaking eye contact, unable to find the words to reply.  
  
***  
  
"Cut all his funding! Hold a press conference announcing I am taking full control of these colonies!" Quatre bit off every word that he spoke, his eyes ablaze with anger and indignation, he knew it was not his sister's fault but he simply could not contain his anger any longer.  
  
His older sister Tamara nodded mutely, fully understanding where his anger was coming from.  
  
"What has he done?" she inquired softly  
  
Quatre drew in a calming breath, before answering though it did little to help. "He had a hand in killing the Bèovel family and he was the one who took Trowa."  
  
"Trowa? What happened to him?" Tamara's eyes widened in shock, all of the Winner sisters looked upon Trowa as a second younger brother.  
  
"He was taken by Draken.and.I don't know." Quatre ran one hand through his blonde hair, finding it difficult to say the words. "They did something to him, he thinks we're the enemy."  
  
"Oh Quatre, I'm so sorry." She whispered covering her trembling lips with one hand.  
  
Quatre rubbed one hand across his eyes tiredly.  
  
"He's calling himself Triton now, he shot Duo."  
  
"No.do you know what they did to make this happen?"  
  
"No, we're looking into it, but I don't hold much hope of finding anything. They have Trowa hiding his own trail. He's the best of us when it comes to that." Quatre sighed, looking away, on impulse he turned back. "How's Erik?"  
  
The corners of Tamara's lips twitched slightly.  
  
"He misses Trowa."  
  
"How can you tell?"  
  
"Every time he sees a flute he reaches for it and begins to cry." She locked eyes with him; her lips still slightly curved.  
  
Quatre's anger had lessened from what it was only moments before.  
  
"Tell the press I'll hold a formal conference once I have finished business on the colonies." His voice grew flat as his eyes turned to steel.  
  
***  
  
"This had better be good," Argile threatened as he walked from Triton's room.  
  
"Sir, it's Draken," a young man said, passing him the phone.  
  
Argile took the phone and placed it to his ear, not even a second passed before Draken started speaking, his words sputtering loudly through the receiver, his anger making itself painfully clear.  
  
"I need you down in my office now!"  
  
"Triton just returned I was in the middle of getting his report."  
  
"Leave him, something's come up, I want you down here in five minutes, and leave Triton exactly as you found him."  
  
Argile stared at the silent phone for an instant wondering what all this was about, but at the same time knowing it could not be good. He hung up the phone and walked towards the door running one hand through his hair as he did.  
  
"Sir, do you want us to take care of the injury?"  
  
Half-turning Argile stopped and stood there for a moment remembering Draken's words.  
  
"No, leave him for now." He opened the door and left, mind not totally focused on what was going on around him. Triton had not completed his mission, that much he had said right off, he had not been too clear however what had caused him to fail. Argile was fairly sure it was not mixed loyalties, more likely it was something he had seen.  
  
He walked down the endless halls, hands crammed deep into his pockets, head down low. Apparently Duo had awoken right as Triton had fired and moved enough that the shot was not fatal. But what had caused him to not fire again? That was a question Argile did not have an answer to, though he did have a few ideas. Looking up he found himself standing outside Draken's office, and for an instant he wondered how long he had been there. Shrugging, Argile walked in.  
  
Draken was seated behind his desk with his chair turned and facing the windows. He moved forward as Argile stepped in, and looked none too pleased.  
  
"They know," was all he said.  
  
"How?" Argile asked, but Draken's silence led him to his answer, "The phone call.shit!"  
  
He dropped down into one of the seats across from Draken.  
  
"Now what?"  
  
"We're not through yet," Draken said leaning forward, he seemed far too calm. "I want Triton on one more mission."  
  
"You know he didn't complete his last one," Argile interjected.  
  
"That had nothing to do with sympathies did it?"  
  
"Hard to say, I don't think so."  
  
Draken pushed his chair back.  
  
"Then we have no problems here. I wan him to take out the Winner brat."  
  
"Then let me suggest waiting at least two days, someone shot him, whether it was Duo or someone else, I don't know, and he's not saying. But it needs to be taken care of," Argile said carefully studying Draken's unreadable face.  
  
"No," Draken said shaking his head, "Leave him as is, the worse shape he's in the quicker they'll come to get him back." He slid a black folder across the table, and Argile took it into his hands.  
  
"I hope you know what you're doing," he said coming to his feet, and heading for the door.  
  
"Don't worry about that, just make sure the Winner heir is dead."  
  
***  
  
Midii walked into the living room where everyone was gathered, all sitting at separate computers. All except Sally, who sat near Wufei reading over his shoulder. A full week had passed since Trowa had appeared and shot Duo, but still they were gaining no ground. Even knowing that Trowa was covering his and Draken's tracks did not make finding him any easier. He was a Gundam pilot and with that title came the gift of disappearing without a trace.  
  
"Still no sign of him?" she asked leaning over Duo shoulder, where he sat typing with one hand. Duo shook his head without glancing up.  
  
"How's the shoulder?"  
  
He looked up then a strange light in his eyes, "It's fine," he said tossing her words back at her. He glanced back at the screen for a time; smaller screens flashed by at an amazing rate staying just long enough to read what he needed. After a time he glanced back up at her, "do you happen to know why he chose Triton as a name?"  
  
Suddenly the typing around the room stopped and all eyes were on Midii, she paused not sure whether to reveal what she had been told in friendship and confidence. Perhaps this was not the way she wanted everyone to find out about Trowa's real past but she had no choice. This could help in their search.  
  
She moved around the chair that Duo was sitting upon and eased herself down onto the arm and began speaking softly, her eyes on the floor.  
  
"How many of you thought that Cathy was not Trowa biological sister? You might have thought that it was too much of a coincidence. During the war Trowa suffered amnesia twice, Cathy never did, she knows her little brother."  
  
"When Trowa was born Cathy's parents allowed her to name her little brother, she called him Triton. Why he chose that name now, I don't know, as far as Cathy tells me he has no memory of when he was young, and there is no way Draken could have known that." She looked down at her hands for a time, "Cathy never told him."  
  
"How'd you know?" Sally asked  
  
"She told me for some reason shortly after we met, she did not even seem to know why. But it did us both some good."  
  
Midii sighed dropping her head.  
  
"I want to know what they did to him," she whispered, tossing her long blonde hair out of her eyes and meeting the eyes of each person in the room.  
  
"We haven't found anything yet, but when we do, I'm not so sure you'll want see it," Quatre said gently, clearly looking out for her well-being.  
  
"Let's set something straight right now, when we do get word, I want to see each and every bit of information. None of you had better dare keep anything from me," her eyes were like ice.  
  
Quatre nodded silently accepting her answer, though he did not seem at all pleased. Closing his laptop he came to his feet and walked towards the door.  
  
"I have to talk to one of my sisters, I'll be back." Quatre left the room leaving behind him a void of silence.  
  
Midii sat there for a time simply listening to the soft ticking of the keys about the room, but she found that the longer she stayed there motionless the more she felt the need to be doing something. Finally she came to her feet drawing everyone's attention.  
  
"I'm just going out for a walk I'll be back in a half hour."  
  
"Do you want some company?" Duo asked glancing up.  
  
"No.you're needed here," she turned and walked slowly from the once again silent room.  
  
***  
  
Quatre stood alone in the office leaning hard against the desk, head down, eyes tightly closed. He wanted to see the end of this madness, but for now he wanted to speak to Cathy, he wanted to let her know what had happened. If she was indeed Trowa's sister, she more than anyone save perhaps Midii deserved to know. Quatre did not look forward to being the one to tell her, knowing full well what her temper was like. Still he could not put it off any longer.  
  
"How did this happen.?" he asked the silent room, no matter how hard he tried Quatre could not help but feel as though they were not going to find Trowa, at least not the Trowa they had known. It was almost as if when he started calling himself Triton his personality had changed, he no longer left his usual traces on the computer. And because of this they were still at a loss as to where to find him  
  
A long sigh escaped his lips; so far the world and colonies were unaware of what was transpiring, and he would do everything in his power to keep that from happening. The last thing they needed was the resurrections of old conflicts; the peace was still so fragile. He knew it was human nature not to agree but did they always have to turn to war? Unfortunately Quatre knew the answer to that question all too well.  
  
Quatre's head came up but he did not turn, his breathing slowed, how had he missed it?  
  
"There's no need for you to conceal yourself."  
  
He glanced back over his shoulder and watched as Trowa moved from his concealment, as expected he held a gun in his hand. Quatre fully turned to face his friend and in clear view of his weapon's sights. "I won't stop you from what you're here to do Trowa." He was offering his friend a clean shot.  
  
"Why do you call me that?" Trowa asked, eyes narrowing.  
  
"That was the name you gave when we first met."  
  
Quatre watched Trowa's eyes but saw no sign of any recognition within their glassy depths.  
  
Trowa raised the silenced gun, his hand tightening upon the trigger, "I know you only as a terrorist!"  
  
"Have you forgotten everyone? Your sister? Midii?" Quatre felt no fear as he faced off with his one time friend. He faced him now as calmly as Trowa had faced him when he had lost himself to grief and the Zero System. And just the same as Trowa had he was willing to sacrifice himself to bring his friend back to the way he had always known him to be. Nothing passed through Trowa's eyes but his finger did pause upon the trigger.  
  
"I will not let one terrorist run free!!"  
  
Trowa pulled the trigger back towards his body, seconds later the bullet tore through Quatre's chest. The former pilot of Sandrock stumbled back falling to his knees, as blood spilled forth over both chest and back.  
  
Feeling as though his time was short Quatre locked eyes with his former friend and comrade and spoke softly, "I.hope something.something will awaken the nice.nice guy I once knew."  
  
His breath faltered, and he fell to his side unable to support himself any longer, but still his eyes did not close, nor lose their focus.  
  
"I don't blame you Trowa.I know you would never.have done this.on your own." his eyes closed and darkness surrounded Quatre, he could hear and feel nothing, it was as though the world never existed.  
  
***  
  
Triton staggered back as though he was the one to be shot, one hand clutching his chest. The terrorist's words echoed through his head repeating themselves over and over. He tried to shut them out but they persisted in their torment. They seemed so familiar to him, as though he had once spoke them, but that was impossible he had never met the man who lay before him, in a pool of his own blood.  
  
Anger overpowered everything, and Triton threw himself into the raging emotion. Allowing it to wash away the memories of what had just happened, he backed slowly away from the unmoving body, eyes not looking at it but at the same time resting on nothing else. Slipping out the window Triton left the room behind without a second thought, his mission had been completed. The Winner heir was dead.  
  
He waited for a time in the deep shadows that spread forward from the house, not a sound could be heard from within. Triton however knew the house was far from empty, and so extra caution was needed. Once he was certain no one had seen him and no one was watching, Triton moved forward, legs carrying him across the opened distance. It was not long before he had left the silent home behind him, and he was once more travelling unnoticed through the streets of the colony.  
  
Triton blended effortlessly into the mass of people moving slowly down the main streets, drawing no attention to himself, for many it was as though he did not even exist. Triton however saw everything around him, ever alert for any signs of danger. As his eyes scanned the men and women around him for what had to be the hundredth time he saw a small figure duck through the crowd, long blonde hair streaming behind her.  
  
Something about her struck Triton and he followed without really understanding why, only knowing he had to. She moved with surprising agility through the crowd, the men and women seeming to part allowing her small form to pass seemingly without notice, much as he himself moved. Triton followed a step or so behind, careful not to appear to be following her.  
  
She moved from street to street without any real destination in mind, at one store she stopped, and had Triton not been carefully studying her he might have thought she was looking at the wares. He knew however that was not the case, she had somehow sensed his presence. Ducking down a small alley Triton vaulted up onto the roof of the building, his right arm burning with the effort it took to heave himself up. He slowly made his way to the edge. Glancing down he saw the blonde women looking about though he still could not see her face.  
  
Shrugging thin shoulders, the young lady walked on as though nothing had happened. Triton continued to follow her movements from roof top to roof top, keeping out of sight, so as not to raise suspicions with the people below. One small hand ran through the silky blonde hair, and Triton suddenly had the urge to run his fingers through the golden strands himself. He paused in the process of following her wondering where that thought had come from, but even now his fingers could remember the silky coolness of her hair.  
  
Triton looked up, the feeling passing as quickly as it had come. She was gone! For an instant he wondered which direction she had gone, and looking about he narrowed down the paths she could have taken. Something from memories long forgotten, or perhaps memories he never had, he sensed which way she would take and moved off in that direction.  
  
Racing across the rooftops Triton glanced down continuously so as not to pass her by, he wanted to see her face, to understand why she seemed so familiar to him. He could not remember ever having met a blonde haired woman in his life, nor had he ever really thought about women in general, his mind more focused on the missions he had to complete. He saw her then walking slowly down a silent alley head down; it seemed as though a great weight rested upon her tiny shoulders.  
  
The scene pulled at Triton's heart, he suddenly wanted to relieve the weight the held her head down. He wanted to be near her, though he could not say why. Jumping down from where he knelt on the roof Triton landed before her and slowly straightened, looking her full in the face for the first time. What he saw brought memories never lived back to haunt him.  
  
An angelic face stared at him from within a frame of blonde hair, crystal blue eyes stared at him with both shock and fear, and instantly he could remember another time when just such a look had been upon her face. They had been much younger then, he could hardly recall the time, but he had loved her even then, though they were much to young to express it. She had betrayed him; he could not fully comprehend why. She had wept, that too was lost to him, he had never felt anything, at least that was until he had met her, she had brought back something that had forever been locked within him.  
  
He had stood before her then, emotionless once more, unable to understand why she cried, and unable to comfort her. He had simply stood, eyes dead once more. She had had something to lose he had nothing.or at least that was what he had thought at the time, but had he actually looked he would have seen he was losing her. He had turned not knowing what to say or do, and slowly walked away her sobs following close behind him, but they fell upon the ears of an emotionless killing machine.  
  
Triton's eyes widened, what were these memories? He had not lived them, it was impossible, he had been raised in the base, serving as a child soldier. Where had these memories come from? Why did they circle about his eyes refusing to be forgotten? So many question and no answers to be had. Triton stumbled back one hand covering his eyes, but he could still see the surprised look upon her face, soft lips half parted as though she were about to form a name, her crystal eyes reflecting his image.  
  
"Trowa?!"  
  
With a cry of pain Triton turned away from the woman, pain searing his mind. He ran down the alley putting as much distance as he could between himself and the woman, but the name still echoed through his head drawing memories, similar to the others from the deep recesses of his mind. They played before his vision and it was everything he could do to force them away.  
  
-Trowa!!- The name screamed itself in his mind. -What the hell is happening to me?!-  
  
***  
  
Midii made to give chase to the fleeing form, hardly able to believe who it was she had just seen. She had felt someone watching her on the street but could not see anyone suspicious, and so continued moving. However the eyes still followed her, she had moved down the quiet alley in the hopes of drawing out her stalker. Midii had never for a moment allowed herself to hope that it would be Trowa. She did not want to believe it was him, he looked so different, thinner than before if that was possible, face pale and drawn as though he were ill.  
  
Trowa dashed around the corner, his emerald eyes, the eyes she had fallen in love with, had been terrifying to look into. There was such a terror within them the Midii could find no words to describe it, she wanted more than ever to understand what they had done to him. She ran down the alley but skidded to a halt when her cell phone rang, pulling it from her pocket she glanced back the way Trowa had run before flipping it opened.  
  
"Yes?!" she said only slightly exasperated.  
  
"Midii!" Duo's voice sounded frantic. "Quatre's been shot, where are you?"  
  
"What?!" Midii started running back in the direction she had been walking in, knowing that here was nothing she could do for Quatre on her own, but she ran all the same.  
  
"Trowa was here.just after you left."  
  
"I just saw Trowa, he was following me, he's gone now, I don't know where."  
  
"It's best you don't know where yet, you're lucky to be alive." Duo said with a sigh of relief.  
  
"How's Quatre?" Midii demanded, shoved her way through the crowds, without a second thought.  
  
"Sally's really worried, she said this is the closest any of us have ever come to dying, it will be some time before we find out if he'll pull through. He took the bullet right in the chest."  
  
Duo paused for a moment, "Where are you I'll pick you up, the others are already on their way to the hospital."  
  
"I'm almost back to the house just be waiting in the car."  
  
Midii shut off the phone and continued to run, arms pumping hard, this all seemed to her to be so unreal. They had to get Trowa back before it was too late.  
  
Midii raced around the corner onto the street the Bèovel home was located on, she could see Duo leaning against the car. Even from this distance he looked greatly distressed. Quatre was like a brother to all of them, and losing him would impact them all greatly. He saw her coming and climbed into the car, tearing recklessly down the driveway. Duo barely came to a rolling stop beside her, giving Midii only enough time to climb in before gunning it again.  
  
"Did he say anything when you saw him?" Duo asked not taking his eyes off the road.  
  
"No," Midii shook her head, "He looked terrible! What did they do to him?"  
  
"I don't know but they'll pay, if Quatre dies, there won't be enough of them left to bury," Duo's voice was deadly. 


	10. chapter 10

Nanashi  
  
Chapter 10  
  
By Morganeth Taren'drel  
  
AN: I'm so sorry this is so late, I have no excuse for it I only hope this long chapter will have been worth the wait. This story is nearly done, but I am having some trouble getting back into the writing of it, I want to finish it before I start Mistaken Words, so there's no fear that I'll leave it forever untouched. There will just be some time in between updates. Thank you so much to all of you who have read and reviewed this story, it's because of you that I can keep writing, and to everyone who has simply read the story, I hope that you have enjoyed it so far ^_^  
  
Midii sat in one corner of the sterile room, head down resting between her hands. She could not recall when the last time she had moved was, but her back was beginning to ache. She glanced up, but nothing had changed from when she had first walked into the waiting room hours before. Heero leaned against one wall appearing to be asleep, she was not naïve enough to believe that for one minute. Wufei sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs filling out some paperwork, while Duo continued to pace the length of the room.  
  
"How long has it been?" she asked quietly, running one hand through her hair.  
  
"About four hours," Heero responded without opening his eyes, she wondered silently how he knew that, but decided not to ask.  
  
Midii came to her feet slowly, her muscles stiff from lack of use, "Duo come with me and we'll get something to drink from the cafeteria."  
  
He nodded silently and walked towards the door with her. They walked together through the silent halls for some time without saying anything. Finally Midii stopped and turned to face Duo, "Do you actually think Trowa would try to kill me?"  
  
Duo watched her for a moment, clearly trying to keep his face blank, "What does it matter now?" He turned and kept walking.  
  
She moved around to stand in front of him placing one hand against his chest, "It matters to me, Duo would he have shot me?"  
  
Sighing he shrugged, "Midii." he glanced at her through one eye. "Yes he probably would have, but Midii."  
  
"It's alright Duo, I know," they walked in silence once more Midii trying to picture without success Trowa shooting her, or for that matter causing her any harm. A thought came to her then and she looked at Duo, "Has Cathy been informed yet about what has happened?" Duo paused for a moment before shaking his head.  
  
They reached the cafeteria, which at this hour was almost completely empty, Duo instantly moved towards the line of food while Midii's eyes fell upon a videophone against one wall. She dialled the number hoping that Cathy would not even be home, unfortunately the phone was switched on in short order. "Midii?" the auburn haired woman's face was surprised  
  
"Hi Cathy." Midii trailed off, wishing she had never dialled the number, she had no idea how to break the news to her.  
  
"How's Trowa?" Cathy seemed not to notice the hesitation in Midii's voice, but she was unknowingly pressing the issue that Midii would rather forget.  
  
"Actually that's something I need to talk to you about." Midii ran one hand through her hair. "Look I don't know how to tell you this.but.Trowa was taken."  
  
"What?!" Trowa's sister instantly sounded terrified. "Tell me what happened!"  
  
Midii nodded mutely, taking a moment to gather her thoughts, and remember how all this had first happened. "Trowa attempted to take out a man named Kain, he was the one who ordered the killing of the Bèovel family.um.he.he never returned."  
  
She forced herself to make eye contact with Catherine and found terror replaced with horror and tears forming in her eyes. "That's not all."  
  
"What? How could this happen?"  
  
"Cathy, that's not all." Midii said again, "We thought Kain was the one behind everything. But that was not the case, it was Draken, a man we thought was a friend. He did something to Trowa.we don't know what, whatever it was it turned him against us. He's calling himself Triton now, he shot Duo and Quatre."  
  
Catherine's hands flew to her mouth, "Are they all right?"  
  
"Duo's fine, he took the bullet in the shoulder. We're at the hospital now, last I heard Quatre was in critical condition." She sighed, near tears herself. Midii gave a start of surprise when Duo touched her on the shoulder. His face was sober as he handed her something to drink.  
  
"Duo, how could this happen?" Cathy cried, she wiped at her eyes but the tears continued to come.  
  
"Hey.hey relax.were going to get him back I promise." Duo's voice was low, and soothing, though it did little to relieve the anxiety that Midii felt. Catherine watched them both, her question still unanswered. "Look Cathy, none of us really know how this happened, it would appear that Draken has been planning this for sometime. We don't even know what his goals are.it's all happening too fast."  
  
With a deep breath Catherine managed to banish the tears from her eyes, "All right, I'm on the next shuttle."  
  
"No don't!" Midii and Duo both looked at one another, as the same two words left each of their mouths. "That not a good idea," Duo finished.  
  
"Why not? He's my brother." Cathy's eyes flashed with an anger that Midii had only seen one time before, the night Trowa had told his sister he was leaving again.  
  
"That may be true, but he does not remember, what if he were to hurt you, hum? What then? He'd never forgive himself, we want Trowa back as much as you but we have to do this the safest way," Duo leaned against the wall as he spoke bringing his face closer to the screen.  
  
Catherine dropped her head, seeing the logic of his thoughts, "But I can't just sit here waiting either."  
  
"I know that," Duo gently replied, "Take a trip to Quatre's house in the Cinq Kingdom. Iria and Tamara are both there and so is Erik." Cathy nodded her silent consent, "Don't worry we'll keep you informed."  
  
Without another word Cathy shut her end of the system down, leaving theirs blank. Midii took a sip of her drink, as she turned to lean back against the wall. "She was furious when Trowa told her he was leaving, I think it was just this scenario that she was afraid of."  
  
"Situations like these seem impossible to avoid when you're a Gundam pilot." Shrugging, Duo began to walk back towards the door; he stopped half way when he noticed Midii was not following. "Come on, we may get word at any time." She nodded silently, pushing herself off the wall, and walking after him.  
  
Midii slipped her arm through Duo's and leaned her head against his shoulder, "Does Hilde know where you are?"  
  
He smiled, "Yah, if I don't tell her, she has my phone number. She becomes just as worried as Cathy, but she also understands that if I and the others don't do something now, who knows what will happen." He looked down at her, his face serious, "We can't afford to go through another war, not with all the work Relena has done to bring this peace into being."  
  
They walked the rest of the way to the waiting room in silence, the realisation that the peace could be lost, was now all too real. With each step that Midii took she could feel dread building in her, she did not want to walk into the room and find out that Quatre had died. But she continued walking, mostly because Duo had her arm through his. Duo placed his hand on the door and held it opened for Midii, all heads turned as they walked in.  
  
"Any word?" Duo inquired, Heero shook his head from where he still stood leaning against the wall. Duo flopped down in a chair, one leg swung over the arm, head falling back to rest on the white tile.  
  
A deafening silence fell upon the room, surrounding each and everyone present, much the same as it had been for hours since they had first arrived. Midii walked the length of the room, eyes scanning the floor, which her feet passed across. Her thoughts grew progressively darker, as the minutes ticked by on the wall clock. But she could not place her finger upon what it was that drew her attention away from the other people in the room.  
  
She knew the longer they were here at the hospital the more time was lost in their search for Trowa, however she also wanted to be here for Quatre. Midii knew exactly how Catherine was feeling, she could not stand sitting- well pacing-in this silent waiting room. She wanted to be doing something, anything besides pacing.  
  
All heads swung up as one of the double doors was pushed open, and a very exhausted Sally walked through. Wufei stood and walked over to her, offering an arm for her to lean upon, which she gratefully accepted. "He lost a great deal of blood." Sally began.  
  
"But he'll be all right?" Duo cut in, unable to contain himself.  
  
Sally's eyes became distressed, and she seemed to lean all the more on Wufei's arm, "He's in a coma, now it's only a waiting game. I won't lie to you, he may never wake." Tears were clear in Sally's eyes as she looked from face to face.  
  
"Can I see him?" All eyes turned to Midii, she had not realised the words had made it past simple thoughts. "Can I see him..?" she asked again.  
  
Sally nodded, "Sure he's right this way," she was about to turn towards the door, when Wufei's hand gently gripped her arm.  
  
"You can hardly stand," he said softly, "come on." Wufei began to lead her towards the doors, and Heero turned to follow.  
  
Duo turned back to Midii, "I'll stay, and bring you back."  
  
Midii nodded mutely, and turned to the double doors Sally had come from, she walked through into the ICU, and found it to be abuzz with activity, so very different from the room she had just left. "Excuse me miss, you can't come in here," Midii turned not fully hearing the nurse's words.  
  
Duo stepped between them, and motioned for Midii to continue walking, "Just let it go, trust me, you really don't want to stir things up right now." Duo leaned in close, his face more serious than Midii had ever seen it, "Especially with me."  
  
The nurse said nothing to this, she simply stood there, eyes wide. Midii turned without a second thought and walked towards the room she figured Quatre would be in. The majority of the walls were made of glass and the room was in clear sight of the nurses' station, unlike many of the others, which were more secluded. She walked hesitantly towards the glass windows, and looked within, Midii's breath caught.  
  
Quatre lay unmoving on the bed, his usually pale skin was whiter than the sheet upon which he lay. Tubes and wires ran everywhere, and she felt as though he were buried by them. A oxygen mask covered his mouth and nose, Midii watched and he barely seemed to breathe -How could Trowa do this?- Placing one hand on the cold glass she stood there for an instant longer before walking in.  
  
Midii found her way through the sea of monitors to Quatre's side, for a time she simply stood there, but she found the longer she watched him the more unsure she was that he was even breathing. Despite the fact that the monitors said he was still alive, he did not look alive. She reached out, laying one hand over his heart, and waited, she felt it then, so faint was it that she missed it at first, but she could now feel his heart beating steadily against her palm. Midii exhaled the breath she was not aware she had been holding, and looked down at the blond haired pilot.  
  
"You have to make it back to us." Midii whispered, she hardly knew the man laying before her, but he had instantly welcomed her, it was because of that, and not just that he was Trowa closet friend, that she wanted him to pull through. She sighed and took her hand away from his chest, his skin feeling cold against her own.  
  
"Midii." Duo gently called her name from the door, she looked up, and with one last glance at Quatre's white face, she turned to leave. "He's going to make it," Duo whispered confidently, taking her arm gently, as he led the way back to his car. Midii could not help glancing back over her shoulder one last time, hoping he was right.  
  
***  
  
"Report," Draken barked looking up from the paperwork on his desk, Argile had entered the room moments before, and had sat himself down in one of the chairs.  
  
"Triton tells me that the Winner brat is dead," Argile locked his fingers together and placed them behind his head.  
  
"Well this is a piece of good news," he responded giving the man before him his full attention. Draken studied Argile's and found something within his eyes that the other man had not mentioned, "There is more to this?"  
  
"When he was sent to kill Duo, something stop him from completing the mission, but he would not say what." Argile leaned forward, eyes intense, "It's happened again this time, there's a portion of the mission that he cannot recall, luckily it was after he had shot Quatre. My guess is he saw either Heero Yuy, or the girl."  
  
Draken thought about that for a moment before nodding, "That would make sense. Is he back in virtual reality?"  
  
"Yes, he's no longer a threat, to our goals. And now that the pilots know we have been using his knowledge to cover our tracks, they shouldn't have too much trouble finding him." Argile jumped to his feet, heading towards the door.  
  
"I certainly don't want it to be too easy," Draken cautioned, as Argile left the room. -Everything is falling into place- he turned his chair around to gaze out the clean windows, the Gundam pilots would soon arrive, and he would have exactly what he had wanted from the start. With Quatre out of the way, Draken would have a steady flow of money, to complete his studies of the pilots and finally to train soldiers, with a new, combined knowledge.  
  
He would have an army that could not be matched, soldiers trained in every conceivable situation, and with a deep knowledge of the inside workings of the Preventers. They would be able to blend into society without notice, just as the Gundam pilots had done so many years ago. He would be able to accomplish both his goals. First, to see what made the pilots so good, and hard to kill. And second, to build an army that the world could not stand against.  
  
***  
  
Triton lay on his bed, on top of the sheets one arm propping up his head. His right arm burned each time it was jostled, but he pushed the pain from his mind, having no time for it. He was attempting to scour his memories to see what had happened on his last two missions, but each time he was stopped and could no longer remember, it was as though a portion of his memory had been erased. He fought to remember, but no matter how he tried, the period eluded him.  
  
The door at the other end of the room opened and Argile walked in, face emotionless, he came to stand at the end of Triton's bed. "Have you remembered yet?" he asked in a monotone.  
  
Running one hand through his hair in frustration, Triton came to his feet and began to pace the length of his room. -I walked into the kitchen, the terrorist was there sleeping. I aimed my gun and fired, the terrorist woke and fell back, the bullet taking him in the shoulder. Something caught his attention.what was it?.it was.it was.- "Damnit!!!" Triton lunged out with his left hand, slamming it through the wall; his frustration reaching a peak so high he could not keep it repressed.  
  
He pulled his fist from the broken wall, and turned to face Argile, eyes on fire. Shock was clear on the older man's face, as he took in the damaged wall, and the scrapes on Triton's knuckles. "I'll take that as a no," he stated calmly, one eyebrow raised, Triton simply shook his head, walking away from the other man. Hand clenched into a fist, he now gave himself over to the pain that he felt, using it to relieve his absolute frustration.  
  
Triton removed his right hand from his pocket and clenched it into a fist, causing the muscles in his arm to burn furiously. Slowly his anger subsided, and he was able to draw in a calming breath. He brought his face back to neutrality, and turned to face the other man, "What is it now?"  
  
"There's a group trying to break into our data base, we need you to re- route them," Argile gave him one last look before heading back the way he had come. Triton followed silently after, wiping the blood from his hand on the edge of his shirt. "Make sure you leave no trace that you're the one behind it," The older man cautioned.  
  
"This is nothing new," Triton shrugged, watching the people who walked by, they gave him and Argile a wide berth, their eyes never coming to rest upon either. He followed in silence flexing and relaxing his right arm, causing the gunshot wound to burn, he used the pain to fuel his determination. He would see this mission through to the end, the terrorists would be destroyed.  
  
***  
  
Midii was shaken from her sleep as Duo's hand clamped about her small shoulder. Looking up she was met by his glowing smile, eyes bright with excitement. Slowly sitting up Midii rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and tried to orient herself, she had felt the company of the others shortly after they had returned to the house. She found that once alone sleep had called her name, and she could no longer keep her eyes opened.  
  
"What time is it?" she asked in a sleepy voice, running one hand through her hair.  
  
"Four in the morning," Duo responded hardly able to contain himself, as he drew her to her feet. "We found Trowa!"  
  
"You what?!" Midii was fully awake now, staring the former pilot directly in the eyes. "Where is he?!"  
  
"He's being held on the third sector of this colony, in a base controlled by Draken, we're leaving now!" Duo headed towards the door, not wasting any time, Midii grabbed her gun and left the still darkened room.  
  
Throwing her hair over one shoulder, Midii rushed down the silent halls, Duo moving from a fast walk to a dead run, when he saw she was following. "What do we know?" she asked when she had caught up to his racing form.  
  
"They're using virtual reality to control him, I'm not so sure you want to see what they had him do." He glanced over his shoulder, eyes haunted.  
  
"Tell me!" Midii's voice was harder than ice.  
  
Duo sighed and slowed to a stop, "They broke him, first by killing you, then by having him kill Trowa Barton, he truly believes he is Triton Bloom. We believe they even completed the whole scenario by giving him memories of his life with Draken."  
  
"How are we ever going to bring him back from this?" Midii was breathless, unable to understand fully what Trowa had been through. "How is this even possible? Why would Draken do this?"  
  
"The only question I can answer is the one about the virtual reality, I understand that it can be used to train soldiers in a fraction of the time, it would usually take. If you lose touch with what is real they can make you believe whatever they want. We're assuming they made the switch when Trowa was unconscious." Duo turned and continued to run down the halls, hands clenched into iron hard fists.  
  
Midii came to a sudden stop in the living room, which Duo had led her to; both Wufei and Heero were shouldering backpacks, with at least two guns visible to her. -How long have they known?- Without a word Heero handed her a shoulder holster complete with two more guns, clips, and silencers. She slipped the holster on pulling her hair out from under the tight leather.  
  
"The plan is almost identical to the one used with Kain, except you will be with Sally, and only her. Is that a problem?" Wufei asked, glancing over to the other woman.  
  
Midii shook her head, "Do you expect a lot of resistance?" she shrugged into the coat Duo handed her, she had been the last to be awakened, everyone else was ready.  
  
"Everything we've seen says he's been preparing for this for years," Heero responded moving towards the door, without looking back. The others moved to follow, and Midii found her mind reeling, with the sudden events that had been thrown at her. Midii walked slowly after them, running one hand through her hair as she did.  
  
Duo turned once he realised she was not walking beside him, "You awake enough?"  
  
She smiled, "I will be," she locked eyes with the former pilot as they followed after the others. "Why didn't you wake me earlier?"  
  
"We found out a few hours ago, and still had a lot to prepare. I wanted to wake you as soon as we found out, but Sally suggested we let you sleep, since we know you haven't had much of it." He held the door opened for her, as they walked out into the cold December air.  
  
Midii climbed silently into the nondescript black van, and slid over to the window. She leaned her face against the cold glass, letting the icy chill fully wake her. The van rolled into motion and she glanced around her at the men who had lost a brother and had not rested till they found him once more. Her crystal blue eyes focused on Duo who was holding up a knife and gun as if trying to decide between the two.  
  
He looked over when he felt Midii watching, "Draken will pay for what he has done," Duo promised darkly.  
  
She placed her hand on the dull side of the knife and lowered it to his lap, "Stick with the gun."  
  
Part of her wanted to be the one to face Draken; he had been jerking them around since the beginning for his own purposes. However she wanted to see Trowa more, she trusted Duo to take care of Draken properly. Midii drew one of her guns out of the shoulder holster Heero had given her, checking the clip inside she attached one of the silencers to the barrel. She cocked the gun and lay it in her lap, eyes travelling once more beyond the glass to the glowing streetlights that passed by.  
  
Midii glanced down at her watch, to find out what time it was, but realised she had not put it on, when Duo had come to wake her. She continued to watch the scenery pass, not knowing how much time went by. Midii looked up as the van rolled to a slow stop, and out her window she could see the tall building that Trowa was being held in. She could feel the first wave of adrenaline wash over her as she flexed her hands in anticipation.  
  
"Ready?" Duo asked, eyes bright with his own excitement. Midii nodded following him from the vehicle onto the deep shadows. She leaned against the wall and watched as Heero removed a laptop from his bag, and began working feverishly. Seconds later the computer was gone and Heero was leading them forward.  
  
They entered the building through the main doors, Heero having disabled the security system. Midii slipped through the glass doors without a sound, eyes scanning the surrounding foyer, she could not see a sign of anyone. She and the others spread out into the room covering every door and corner, guns in hand, waiting for any resistance.  
  
Midii glanced down the hall and found it to be clear, she half turned and gave Heero the signal, but found him raising his gun, taking aim at an unknowing soldier moving towards them. With one shot the man dropped without a sound, blood pooling underneath him. They were about to move forward when from almost every direction men came running bearing assault rifles. The soldiers began firing almost instantly.  
  
"How'd they know where we were?" Sally called firing down the hall; the men had planted themselves behind corners and small alcoves.  
  
"Who the hell cares, we need to get to Trowa!" Midii cried, trying to take out a few of their numbers.  
  
"We can't hope to make any progress with this amount of resistance," Wufei responded, reloading his guns.  
  
***  
  
Heero's mind raced as he tried to decide how the soldiers had found them so quickly. There had not been any cameras monitoring the foyer, he had made sure of that. No security systems could possibly have been tripped; he had disabled all of them. So what could possibly be left? As he fired his gun with deadly accuracy Heero's Prussian eyes looked over to where the first soldier lay.  
  
"Cover me," Heero said, already moving forward. He dove into a forward shoulder roll and came up beside the dead man. Taking hold of him Heero pulled him into the cover of an alcove. The man's uniform was nondescript and Heero could not see any radio that the man could have been talking into. Without knowing what to expect Heero tore open the man's shirt, and found the answer to his questions.  
  
Grabbing the item in question Heero looked up coming to his feet. He needed to make it back to the others; they would make it no further this day. Shielding himself with a hail of bullets Heero pulled back to where the others waited, he was met with more than one questioning glance. He simply shook his head. "We have to pull back!" Heero called moving towards the door, he sensed more than saw the others follow.  
  
Once they reached the van, Midii stood before him, "How the hell did they know?!" Rage shone clear in her eyes at having been forced back.  
  
Heero could fully understand how she was feeling, but he also understood when they could no longer move forward for fear of loss of life. He tossed the small item he carried in his hand to Midii and climbed into the van.  
  
Midii turned it over in her hands as she followed, "What is it?" she questioned, some of her anger appearing to fade.  
  
"It's a tracking device, they were monitoring the soldier's heart beat, as soon as he died, they knew where we were." Heero answered running one hand through his hair, as he even now began to consider their options.  
  
"They what?" Midii watched him her voice sounding slightly hopeless "How the hell can we hope to get past that?"  
  
Duo turned the key in the ignition and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, as they raced away from Draken's base. He glanced over at Heero as he manoeuvred the van around other traffic at breakneck speeds, "Did anyone else notice anything strange about the way those soldiers fought?"  
  
Heero looked away his mind still half on the problem of how they were to get through now. Duo question penetrated his thoughts and he answered without really thinking. "The tactics were almost identical to Trowa's. You really shouldn't have been surprised, we knew they put him in virtual reality, the logical next step for Draken would be to put Trowa's training to use."  
  
"Well sure that's the logical next step, if everyone thought like you." Duo said sarcastically.  
  
"What do you think their goal through all this is?" Midii asked still fingering the tracing device.  
  
Heero shrugged without comment, Draken worked like no other man he had ever been pitted against. He had made no demands, had not attempted to start a war, which he had had more than enough time to do considering it took a full month for him and the other pilots to find Trowa. No, Draken had tried none of those things, he had simply sent Trowa to kill Duo, and Quatre. But why not himself and Wufei? They were easily the more dangerous of the four remaining pilots.  
  
"Sally, give me your cell phone," Heero said, reaching one hand back behind his head, once the item in question was in his grasp he began dialling.  
  
"What have you got planned?" she asked leaning forward in her seat to better see his face.  
  
Heero did not answer, his mind still working over all he knew about Draken, the fact of the matter was, as of right now there was nothing he could do about Draken's cut in all this. All he should be focused on now was getting Trowa back, they could discover everything else later. Heero brought the phone to his ear and waited for it to be answered. "Get me to Lady Une."  
  
"Sir I don't know where you are, but on Earth there is such a time as night," the young servant said, her voice sounding sleepy.  
  
"This is Heero Yuy, now give the phone to Une," his voice had never raised, but no one could miss the dangerous tone lying just beneath the surface.  
  
"Sir?! I had no idea it was you, just one moment please."  
  
Heero glanced around the van and seeing all the questioning looks, he turned away not really seeing anything, as he waited for Une to answer the phone. "Yuy, this had better be good."  
  
"I need Alex on the next flight," Heero said in his usual monotone. Alex was a relatively young soldier, whom Heero had trained to hack his way through almost any system.  
  
"Why? What's going on?"  
  
"I thought you were tired, I won't bother you with the details now," Heero said, a barely perceivable curve to his lips as he spoke to the older woman.  
  
"Yuy." Une said a dangerous tone overlying her words.  
  
"Just get him on the next flight to colony L7," Heero turned the phone off before Une could say or ask any more.  
  
"What was all that about?" Duo asked as he pulled the van up the long drive to the house. He parked the vehicle and turned to face the former pilot of Wing Zero.  
  
"There's no way we can make it through the base without meeting up with someone. We also can't kill anyone because that will alert the men monitoring the soldiers to our exact location." Heero climbed from the van and walked towards the front door, the others following close behind.  
  
"So what does Alex have to do with anything?" Sally asked taking her phone back when Heero offered it.  
  
"I intend to have him on a computer, as we kill off the soldiers, his job will be to create replacements for the men who die." Heero took a seat in the living room, pulling his laptop out of his backpack and placing it on the table at his feet. Switching it on, his fingers flew across the keys, as he accessed Draken's mainframe. Heero passed through all the security systems as though they were nothing, he could now recognise the small trip wires 'Triton' had put into place, and he passed those over too.  
  
He found his way into the system that monitored all the soldiers, and discovered, once Alex had acquainted himself with the system he would have no trouble integrating new soldiers. Heero dug deeper making sure there were no other safe guards that they had missed. He found nothing more, but was still surprised that they had missed the first safe guard.  
  
"When do you expect him to arrive?" Wufei asked coming to stand behind him glancing down at the information on the screen.  
  
"Sometime late tomorrow, that is if Une gets him on the next flight." Heero never took his eyes off the screen, as the information continued to skim by.  
  
"There are ways to make sure she does." Wufei left the rest hanging as he moved to take a seat across from Heero pulling his own computer out.  
  
Heero glanced up, a very small smile touching his otherwise emotionless face, even as his hands hacked their way into the shuttle ports scheduling lists. The databases had little to no security, and the people had at one time asked the Preventers to build them a safe system so a teenager with some computer abilities could not simply disrupt the day to day travel. However the new security system was not designed to keep Gundam pilots out, hell it was easier than sneaking into Draken's base.  
  
"There it is," commented Wufei just as Heero's eyes fell upon the man's name, his shuttle left in one hour. "Well I really don't think there's that much more that we can do tonight."  
  
"No," Heero agreed, coming to his feet after turning off his computer, "We'll make another strike tomorrow night." He glanced about the room and found that the others had left, most likely retiring to their rooms to try and get some sleep. Heero rubbed the back of his neck and walked towards the door, heading towards his own room. Sleep for him would not be hard to find, for Midii however, he was not so sure.  
  
***  
  
Midii felt numb, there was no other way to explain it, she did not feel as though she were about to weep, she did not feel anything. Her mind could not begin to grasp how close they had come to getting Trowa back. She sat in a chair in her darkened room still fingering the small tracking device Heero had given to her. Duo had led her back to her room shortly after they had returned, telling her she should try to get some sleep. However she knew that was not possible at least not until exhaustion overtook her.  
  
She came to her feet walking towards the window, her eyes gazing up to where she knew Trowa was being held, he was in virtual reality, and he was not even aware of it. She had not till now considered how that could possibly affect someone's mind, thinking they were in reality only to find out they were not. How were they ever going to convince him that this was reality? If they ever got that far, Midii corrected silently, not sure even now how they were going to over come the security systems that Draken had in place.  
  
Shaking her head, Midii wanted to leave right then and there, on her own and try to free Trowa but she knew she would not make it that far. She was a mercenary but even she would have trouble overcoming Draken. She spun around when someone shattered the silence by knocking on her door, "Come in," she called softly. The door opened and she gave a start of surprise, Midii had been expecting Duo or perhaps Sally, but not Heero.  
  
He walked into the room silently, and though his features had softened slightly, she still felt intimidated by his presence. He carried in his hand a glass of water. Midii studied his face trying to find something within his features but she found nothing, his face was as unreadable as ever. He came to a stop before her and handed her the glass, "Drink this, you really need to sleep." His voice was without emotion, but she thought she caught the very faintest hint of concern, though it might have only been her imagination.  
  
She took the glass into her hand not knowing what to say to the former assassin, and pilot. He nodded mutely and turned to leave, "Thanks." she called after him just as he had reached the door.  
  
Heero half turned an unreadable look passed across his otherwise hard features, "I'd react the same as you, if Relena were taken." Midii did not know what to say to that, she had a feeling that for some reason he was telling her something he would not tell anyone else.  
  
"Thanks," she said again, Heero just nodded and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Midii moved over to her bed and slipped off her shoes and looked at the drink, in her hands. Shrugging her shoulders Midii drank the clear liquid down, and with surprising quickness she felt it take effect. -What did Heero put in this?- she wondered just before falling asleep. 


	11. chapter 11

Nanashi  
  
AN: Okay I hope you all haven't give up on this story I do fully intend to finish it, in fact I've started writing on it again, and we're nearing the end. Thank you so much for being so patient and I'm sorry this has been taking me so long.  
  
Cmquietone: thank you for the review, and I'm sorry this has taken me so long  
  
Midii: thank you for the editing and being so patient ^_^ couldn't have done this one without you!  
  
Mendel Khushrenada: thanks for reading the story! I hope you continue to enjoy it!  
  
Disclaimer: don't own!  
  
Chapter 11  
  
Midii woke slowly, her eyes feeling grainy, and they wanted to close the moment she opened them. Her room was still dark and she absently wondered what time it was. However she was too sleepy to look at her watch. Sitting up slowly Midii found she wanted nothing more than to fall back asleep, but something kept her from dropping back on her pillow. Running one hand through her long blonde hair Midii forced herself to her feet and walked towards the bathroom.  
  
She turned on the hot water of the shower, and soon found herself under the spray, though it did little to wake her up. Fifteen minutes to a half-hour passed before she stepped from the beneath the hot water. She dressed quickly, adding to her clothing the guns and holster Heero had given her the night before. Running a comb through her damp hair, Midii walked from her room.  
  
For a time she stood there, this house was not as large as Quatre's, but it was still a good-sized mansion. Turning left she headed towards the kitchen, where she was fairly sure Duo would be. Midii walked through the archway, and was surprised to see not Duo but Wufei sitting at the table, "Where's Duo?"  
  
Wufei looked up, "So you're finally awake. He went to the spaceport to pick up Alex."  
  
Midii looked out the kitchen window only to find blackness, her eyes fell upon the wall clock and she was stunned to find that it was seven o'clock at night. Midii started to laugh, drawing a strange look from Wufei, "What day is it?" she asked moving towards the door. "Excuse me, there's someone I need to talk to." She left the room.  
  
Making her way slowly down the hall, Midii could not help but feel disoriented. At first she had thought it was just early morning, but to then find out it was the evening of the next day, she found it hard to grasp how much time she had missed while sleeping. She came to the living room and leaned on the arch frame, arms folded across her chest, eyes boring into Heero.  
  
He looked up seconds later face unreadable, "You're finally wake." Heero's voice held nothing within it.  
  
"What the hell did you put in that?" she asked with a half smile dancing on her lips. "Because when I went to sleep it was Thursday morning, and now if I'm not mistaken it's Friday evening?" She made it into a question, stepping into the room and towards the ex-pilot.  
  
"Duo should be back with Alex soon," Heero came to his feet turning to face her fully.  
  
"That's not what I asked," Midii pointed out.  
  
"It was better that you got some rest during the wasted hours, where nothing could be done." He walked over to where a small table and two chairs sat off to one side of the room, Heero lifted a small device from the table, and motioned her to come sit in the chair. "While we're getting Trowa out, Alex will be integrating soldiers into the monitoring system, to cover our trails. However it would be easier if he simply slipped us into the system."  
  
"Wait, what about security cameras?" she asked while taking a seat.  
  
"They don't have very many, only a few in control rooms, only laser wires, which are tripped every day. The men monitoring the whole system simply find the heart beat to make sure it's one of their own."  
  
Midii nodded seeing the logic in Heero's thoughts, "So if we're part of the system we'll go virtually undetected." It was an excellent idea, and she wondered why Draken or any of the men working for him never thought to cover for it. Midii watched silently as Heero put the device in place, and punched in a few keys on his computer, creating her a file and saving it. So, Alex would have no trouble integrating her into the system.  
  
***  
  
Duo, black hat firmly in place, and pulled low over his eyes, leaned calmly against one wall unnoticed by everyone. He was standing in a restricted area but no one seemed to care. He was waiting, and had been for the last half-hour, glancing down at his watch, he saw with some relief that Alex's shuttle should be landing even now.  
  
He had left the house while Midii still slept, he wasn't entirely sure what Heero had given her but it certainly helped. Before he left Heero had hooked him up with on of the devices he had built, much the same as the one he had taken off the soldier. Duo could hardly remain standing still; they were so close to a second attempt of recovering Trowa. He knew that today had been a test of everyone's endurance, what with him having nothing to do all day long he had really been getting edgy, which was why he had been the one sent to meet Alex.  
  
"Hey Duo!"  
  
The former Gundam pilot brought his head up, his usual smile clearly evident, as his eyes fell on the red haired man. He carried one bag over his left shoulder and wore a perplexed look on his face. "Alex, long time no see!" Duo pushed himself off the wall and walked towards the other man.  
  
"So do you mind explaining to me why I was woken up in the early morning, and shoved on this shuttle, without any explanation?" Alex asked voice low, and sarcastic.  
  
Duo started laughing as he led the man down the terminal hall, "What have you heard on Earth?"  
  
"Almost nothing, only that the colonies changed hands three times, and that a group of terrorist took out one of the buildings on this colony. They say that although they found blood, they were unable to find any bodies, nor what caused the building to explode."  
  
He laughed all the harder, "The blood, that would be mine, and as for the explosion, and how they did it, you'd have to ask Heero and Wufei."  
  
A smile disseminated his features, as he watched Duo from one eye, "I had a feeling that that was you guys."  
  
"Yeah well, what can I say," Duo shrugged. "Alright listen carefully 'cuse I'm not going to repeat this, Kain was the one who owned the building that was destroyed, we thought he was the one behind the disappearance of Trowa. Turns out that that was wrong it was Draken--"  
  
"Wait, isn't he the one who took control of the colonies?" Alex stopped walking and turned to face Duo.  
  
"Yes, but I won't be able to finish this story if you keep interrupting."  
  
"Hey that was one time."  
  
"Two times," Duo countered, as he continued to walk, he pushed open the doors and strode out into the parking lot, towards his car. "Anyway, Draken was the one who took Trowa, and by all accounts he's been preparing for this for years, though we still don't know why. He had Trowa placed in virtual reality, a lot happened after that, which doesn't need explaining, however, Trowa now believes he's Triton Bloom and tried to kill me."  
  
"I took the bullet in the shoulder, Quatre however was not so lucky, even now he's fighting for his life. Not even Sally's sure he'll pull through. Alright now's the time to ask questions." By this time Duo was tearing down the streets of the colony, and he glanced over to his silent companion.  
  
Alex simply stared at him, mouth hanging opened in sheer disbelief, "How do you Gundam pilots do this?"  
  
"Hey in our defence none of us went looking for this, all Trowa was trying to do was protect a child, from Kain. We all kind of got sucked in after that, although none of us expected this, we're all just racing to keep up."  
  
"So, why have I been brought in?"  
  
"Well I was waiting for this question," Duo turned his eyes back to the road as he swerved in and out of traffic, as if the other cars were standing still. "Draken thinks he's really smart, he has very few cameras in his base, while the entire base is constantly being monitored by laser wires--"  
  
"Would that not make it difficult for the soldiers to walk the halls without tripping the system?" Alex inquired.  
  
"What did I say about interrupting?" Duo slid around a corner, eyes sparkling, he loved driving recklessly. "You would think that that would be the case but its not, the guards have another system, they monitor the heartbeats of all their soldiers. We found that out the hard way. Anyway what we need you to do is create fake soldiers to replace the ones we kill. Not to mention add our information to the system, so we can move freely."  
  
"You've certainly thought this through well," the red haired man commented, climbing from the car, as Duo finally pulled to a halt outside the house.  
  
"Heero will show you the program once we get inside, and you'll have about." Duo glanced down at his watch, "A half-hour to familiarise yourself with the system before we make another strike." He smiled as he held the door open.  
  
Duo walked him to the living room where he knew Heero would be waiting, just as he came in sight of the door; the other pilot spoke up "You're late."  
  
"How do you figure?!" Duo asked, incredulous.  
  
"Go find Midii, we need her ready," Heero turned his back on Duo as he walked Alex over to the computer, and showed him the program.  
  
The former DeathScythe pilot nodded silently to himself as he left the room, they would be leaving in under half an hour, everything would have to be ready by then. He stopped for a moment in a hall intersection, wondering where Midii might be, not wanting to search the whole house, he considered grabbing a computer and hacking his way into the security system. Duo shrugged not wanting to go through all that effort, he simply headed towards her room.  
  
He knocked on wooden door and shortly after, was invited in. Midii sat in one chair seeming to have been in the middle of a conversation with Sally. Both women looked up and gave him a small smile. "Alex is here?" Sally inquired, coming to her feet.  
  
"Yeah, Heero's just running him through the system now." He glanced at Midii for an instant then looked back to Sally, "Now's the time to get everything ready."  
  
Sally nodded silently and reached into a backpack that rested at her feet, she spoke as she riffled through it. "It's absolutely necessary that we blend in, and to do that our heart rate has to remain normal, so I'm going to give you a light sedative," Sally pulled a syringe from the bag already filled with a yellowish liquid.  
  
Midii looked slightly surprised at this, "I really don't think that's necessary, I've worked under tough conditions before."  
  
"Midii, you may be a mercenary, but you're still human, and you love Trowa. There's no assurances that he will be in good shape."  
  
"I know he won't," Midii responded darkly, "I still don't think this needs to be done."  
  
"Still better safe than sorry," Sally shrugged, "What can I say? This was not my idea, but I have to agree with Heero." Midii glanced briefly at Duo before nodding her consent.  
  
They had done a lot in the hours that she slept, and Duo didn't think for a minute that he would not have to answer for it later. He looked down at his watch, time was slowly ticking away, "Do you both have everything you'll need?"  
  
Standing Sally shouldered her backpack, and walked towards the door, Midii came to her feet seconds later, guns clearly in place. "So how are we going to do this?"  
  
Duo walked from the room before answering, "We'll go in two at a time, all except me that is, I'll be going in alone. Once inside, your first goal will be to kill at least one soldier so you can be integrated into the monitoring system. Until then you have to avoid all laser wires and pressure plates. Once you're in the system you'll be able to move freely so long as you keep your heart rate under control."  
  
The corners of Duo's lips tugged up into an evil smile, he would be going in alone, as Heero, and Wufei infiltrated. Midii and Sally would retrieve Trowa, while he went to have a little conversation with Draken. Adrenaline pulsed through Duo veins as they neared the living room, if everything was ready now, they would leave. He crossed over the threshold, of the room, which had become their command centre, just in time to see Alex slipping his computer back in its case. "We're ready?" he asked, leaning against the doorframe.  
  
"We leave in five minutes." Heero shrugged into a coat and swung his backpack over both shoulders, his eyes were distant, and face serious, they were going to bring Trowa back. And at the same time they would find the answers to the questions that had plagued them since the Bèovel family was killed.  
  
***  
  
Midii leaned against the van, waiting as patiently as she could for hers and Sally's time to enter the base. They had been left till last, Heero and Wufei had gone in first, needing the most time to complete their mission, as they planned to clear the women's path to Trowa. Duo had gone in an hour before, and only now had he found a soldier and was able to move freely. "So how does this system work?" Midii asked Alex, who now sat watching his computer head resting on one hand.  
  
His eyes darted over to her for the briefest instant before returning to the screen, "I'm not surprised Heero missed it at first, at first they make it appear to be the medical records of all the soldiers, nothing important to break into the base. However if you enter the file you'll see that it's the on-going monitoring system. This whole system is based on recognition," Alex sounded less than impressed, "I almost wonder what made him decide to go with this?"  
  
Crystal blue eyes swung over to where Sally sat, head down, elbows resting on her knees, one strap of her backpack was looped negligently around one arm, and rested on the seat beside her. Midii stood at the back of the van looking in the opened doors, the vehicle had five seats up front, two captain's chairs and one row. Behind that was the desk that Alex sat at and another bench seat, set perpendicular to the others, where Sally sat. She wondered briefly where the pilots had found this van; it seemed perfectly suited for anything they would need to do.  
  
"Alright, they're in," Alex said with some relief.  
  
Midii leaned into the van to get a better look at screen; Alex was fully into Draken's server and had accessed the few cameras that were around the base. One small screen displayed the images of Heero and Wufei as they disposed of the men monitoring the room and took over. Just before their guns fired Alex began madly typing, so that when the men died their hearts would still be 'beating'.  
  
"Okay, that was your cue, from there they will be able to keep the path open for you. However you still need to kill off two soldiers, so I can put you into the system." Sally nodded as she jumped down from the van and moved deeper into the shadows along with Midii.  
  
She could feel the sedative, coursing through her veins, she felt relaxed when she should have been running on adrenaline. Midii found that though she may have been able think clearer, she missed the feel of walking on the edge of a knife, but she had to admit she could understand where the others were coming from. They walked through doors undetected; Midii brought out a small computer and slowly began to lead the way. The screen displayed an image of the hall in which they stood showing her where every laser wire, and pressure plate was hidden. With this information they could slowly make their way towards where Trowa was being held.  
  
On the screen a small light appeared leading the way when she came to a point where another hall crossed over the one she was in. this was either Heero or Wufei who had pinpointed Trowa's exact location. Midii flattened herself against the nearest wall as she heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her and Sally, drawing her gun Midii patiently waited.  
  
Alex would by now know two soldiers were walking her way, she gave him one more second to prepare himself, as she signalled Sally that there were two men. The rounded the corner as one, two silenced shots fired at once and hitting their marks dead on. Placing her gun back behind her belt and slipping the computer in her pocket, Midii moved forward taking hold of one soldier while Sally took the other. They dragged them into an empty room, and were quickly moving through the base once more.  
  
Midii stopped walking down a long corridor leaning against the wall her eyes, scanning the roof; she glanced down at the screen of the small computer and looked to Sally, "He's in the next room."  
  
"Are you ready?"  
  
"About as ready as I'll ever be," Midii replied putting the computer away, she locked her eyes on the door, but could not make herself move. She was closer to having Trowa back than she had ever been since he had been taken, and now she was frozen. She could not even say what stayed her muscles; perhaps she feared what she would find, or not being able to bring Trowa back.  
  
Sally gently rested one hand on her shoulder, "Come on, he's just through the next door." Midii nodded and pushed herself away from the wall, taking the first step towards Trowa.  
  
"How do you want to take the room?" Midii flattened herself against one side of the door while Sally took the other.  
  
"I'm thinking there's two soldiers max, in there, if we move quickly they should both be dead before anyone's the wiser." Sally locked eyes with her, gun raised, "One.two.three," Midii slammed her hand down on the keypad opening the door with a rush of air. Both women rushed into the room taking only an instant to find their targets and fire one bullet each.  
  
It was over before it even had a chance to start, the two men lay in fast forming pools of blood. They had died without a sound or even an attempt to defend themselves, but then again as far as they knew, the base was secure. Midii tore her eyes away from the bloody mess and locked her eyes instead upon a monitor that displayed an image of Trowa in the adjacent room. She walked towards the computer terminal, tears coming to her eyes at the sight of him; he hardly seemed even to breathe.  
  
***  
  
Duo edged his way down the empty halls; he had made it to the desired floor without being detected, a result practically guaranteed because he was good, and, he hated to admit, because Heero and Wufei were in charge of the security systems by this time. He could no longer hear any voices moving down the side halls, it seemed to him as if this floor of the base was deserted. However he had made sure before coming in that this was were he would be able to find Draken.  
  
At the mere thought of that man's name rage flared within Duo, but he soothed the flames, telling himself over and over that it would soon all be corrected. By this time he was fairly sure that Midii and Sally had made it to Trowa, and he silently prayed that things were alright with them. His shoulder ached in the back of his mind, and he tried to force the pain of the past injury from his thoughts.  
  
Rounding what he hoped would be the final corner, Duo's patience was rewarded as his lavender eyes fell upon the final door, and a man standing before it. Instantly Duo knew him for the born soldier that he was, there was an air about him of danger, something very close to what he felt around Heero. Slipping his gun from the holster at his waist, Duo glanced once more, before stepping out into plane view.  
  
The man leaning calmly against the door, did not seem the least bit surprised by the sight of Duo coming around the corner, gun aimed at his head. "Another Gundam pilot." was all he said, a half smile on his face, as he unfolded himself from the wall.  
  
Duo nodded wearing his own smile, "Yeahand who might you be?" he asked in a jovial fashion, as easy and relaxed as ever.  
  
"Argile," was the confident reply. The former pilot studied Argile carefully seeing that although the man was confident he was still wary of the adversary that stood across from him.  
  
"Strange that there's so few guards on this floor," Duo said taking a slow step toward the smaller man.  
  
Argile smirked, "Draken needs no other protection."  
  
"And you would be what.a second rate guard?" The American chuckled as he fired his gun. Argile was faster than he appeared, and easily dodged to the side, pulling his own gun forward. The man was good Duo realised, his movements smooth and well balanced, but he was still no Gundam pilot.  
  
They faced off, the ring of the single bullet fired, long since pasted, and its echo was only heard in the minds of those close enough to have heard. Duo readjusted his thinking, and approach to the other man, and they stared each other down. The hallway was not large, and so would hinder both of them, but Duo was used to working in close quarters. He wondered silently how his opponent felt about them, however he could glean nothing from the hard features.  
  
Silence was the only sound within the hall, as they waited with bodies tense, to see who would make the first move. Duo balanced on his toes, eager to get this over with, but at the same time unwilling to make any mistakes. The former pilot began to tire of this seemingly endless game, and so lowered his gun ever so slightly, in an attempted to pull Argile into making a move. The ploy worked, the smaller man leaped into motion firing off a quick shot.  
  
Duo managed to bite back a laugh at this pitiful attempt to end his life, he had no trouble avoiding the bullet, he had been doing this for almost all of his life. Argile however, was not set off balance by his failure, but was ready for more. As each the two charged at one another, neither shouting nor making any unnecessary noise. Duo read the situation within a heartbeat, and made a decision. Argile was good, but he was not perfect, there were only so many places that he could go, with that in mind, Duo fired the gun rapidly, filling the space between them with deadly obstacles.  
  
Argile as well realised this situation, and did the same thing that Duo had just done, however he was an instant too late; he only managed to get off two shots before one of Duo's tore through his chest. Dropping to the ground the Gundam pilot avoided the other man's shots, and watched as Argile fell, blood spraying the wall around him. Climbing to his feet Duo's eyes watched the unmoving body lying splayed before him, and with one shake of his head, moved on.  
  
Without making a sound, Duo made his way passed the dead body, coming to a stop before the ornate double doors. Duo checked his clip, more out of habit than any fear that he might be running out of bullets, but once assured that he had more than enough for what he had to do now he boldly pulled the door opened. Crossing the threshold into the large room, Duo's eyes instantly focused upon Draken as he turned about in his chair to face the door.  
  
"How good to see you again Duo," Draken said in a relaxed, almost conversational tone, as he climbed from his chair. "I'm going to assume you've already met Argile."  
  
The man's calm demeanour infuriated Duo to the point of wanting to pull the trigger right now and kill him. "Why?" he demanded planting his legs and preparing for what could be a long answer. On second thought he changed his question, "Why did you have the Bèovel family killed?"  
  
Draken studied him for a long moment before smirking, "Simple.I wanted Quatre to gain control of the colonies."  
  
"That's it?!" Duo's finger tightened upon the trigger, "You had an entire family killed just for that reason?!" He could hardly believe what he was hearing, Duo had come to know a lot of different and stupid reasons for harming people, but this had to be one of the most vindictive.  
  
"There's a little bit more to it than that, but you get the basic idea," the older man turned, completely unconcerned, to look out the window. "My goal for years has been to capture one of you, bend you to my purpose, then as you have seen, send the pilot to take out the rest." Draken glanced back over his shoulder, to where Duo stood in stunned silence, "My final goal was to kill Relena Peacecraft."  
  
Dou could not say that he was surprised by what Draken had said, he had heard it so many times before. More it was the older man himself that surprised Duo, "I could never understand why you people keep thinking that killing her will somehow change things." If it were Heero in the room right now Draken would have been long dead.  
  
Draken turned fully to face the former pilot; "It was not just killing Relena, that drew me into motion, but the chance to study you. To see what set you above all other solders, why OZ was at such a disadvantage." Leaning back against the window, he crossed his arms; "However we quickly realised that the only way we were going to get any information from you, was if you were working for our side." A dark smile overtook Draken's features, "Your friend Triton has survived us well."  
  
"Fortunately you'll never put that information to use," Duo hissed, finger pulling back towards him ever so slowly.  
  
"That may very well be true," Draken began face sober, but there was a sadistic glint in the deep recess of his eyes, "However I will die with the knowledge that you may never restore your friend back to a proper mental state. And won't that tear you up, to know that he's so close, but he believes you an enemy, that whenever he sees you, his first instinct is to kill. Yes knowing that will allow me to die with satisfaction."  
  
Duo's hand clenched into a fist at his side "You Bastard!!!" he shouted feeling the deep hopelessness that was the truth in Draken's words. Without hesitation or regret he pulled the trigger, and for a satisfying moment time seemed to slow, as Duo watched the bullet reach it's target. With deadly aim, Duo took the older man right between the eyes, showering the window behind him with blood and grey matter. Draken collapsed to the ground having not uttered a sound, he had known his death had walked through the door with Duo. "But you still might have won," Duo spat bitterly.  
  
Trembling with anger, Duo spun about leaving the silent room behind him. He brought the small communicator to his lips and spoke into it, his voice filled with venom, "I'm finished here, where is everyone?"  
  
"Haven't heard from Sally yet, we're ready to leave as soon as they are," Heero's voice broke the silence of the hall that had now turned into a graveyard.  
  
"Sounds as though things didn't go that well, what'd he say Duo?" Wufei questioned.  
  
He shook his head, even though they could not see, "That he might have won." his hand clenched again, and he had to force himself to relax it. Before they could ask any more questions Duo spoke up, "I'll be down in a second, if Sally contacts you let me know." With that he stuffed the item into his pocket and continued down the halls, back the way he had come; now he wished for the resistance that he had not come across on the way up.  
  
***  
  
"How close are you?" Midii questioned, voice tense, she was just barely hanging on, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand; and not the image of Trowa up on the wall.  
  
"I'm getting there," Sally responded with a sigh, "In retrospect we should have kept those men alive."  
  
They had been working steadily for the last ten minutes together to get the door to Trowa's room opened. It had clearly been especially designed to keep him in; there was no handle, or lock. No hinges to tamper with, in fact there was nothing just the door blocking them from the man that she loved. It was even made of a bullet proof material, shooting it down had been the first thing Midii had tried.  
  
Her hands were shaking as she typed furiously, working as fast as she could to get through the last firewall. She could hardly believe she was here, within reach of Trowa, they were going to get him back. Midii held no doubts now. Swallowing, she wiped the sweat from her forehead, Midii could not help feeling the tension, the sedative that Sally had given her was clearly wearing off. The block of the base that they were in was completely secured. However the idea was to get in and out as fast as they could, and the longer that she and Sally struggled with the door, the longer the others had to hold matters in the rest of the base.  
  
Endless minutes passed in the dead silence that surrounded both herself and Sally, not even the sound of the keys typing could break the stillness, it was incredibly unnerving. She tried to shake off the feeling and focus entirely on the task at hand, but that was simply impossible. Thankfully she was almost done, and soon the mission would be at an end. "Last one." Sally muttered even as her fingers flew across the keys, they were no Gundam pilots but they were making do.  
  
Midii could hardly breathe as she finished hacking the last command code, she spun around instantly as the door slid to the side leaving the way opened. She wasted no time getting to her feet and crossing the room, coming to a stop at Trowa's side. Black goggles covered his eyes, and wires ran everywhere, to and from the black suit that clothed him almost like a second skin. Midii moved to take hold of the goggles, but Sally stopped her.  
  
"Hold on," she said sharply, walking over to a small computer terminal "We have no idea what removing him too quickly might do." Leaning closer to the screen, Sally quickly began accessing what information she could.  
  
Turning back to face Trowa, Midii took hold of his gloved hand, it rested limp in her grasp. It was a wonder to her that they even felt the need to shackle him to the table, it seemed to her that there was not life within him, only the shallow rise and fall of his chest, told her that he was still living. Midii looked up to his face, seeing that the exposed flesh was flushed as though he was taken with a fever, reaching over she touched his cheek lightly feeling the burning skin beneath her slim fingers.  
  
She half turned to see the other woman, "Sally he's sick," her voice was laced with deep worry for the man she loved.  
  
"Yeah I noticed, I'm just looking at his read-outs now. He's running a temperature of one hundred and two degrees; it's some form of infection, but there's nothing I can do about it right now." Sally struck a few more keys, "We have to get him out of here first."  
  
"How do we get him out of this?" she asked looking back at the black suit, which was keeping Trowa in the depths of VR.  
  
Sally did not respond for a second, too busy working, "I have to shut the system down, then we can unhook him, but it's going to take me a few more minutes. Look we can't carry him out of here by ourselves; there must be a gurney around her somewhere, or something that will work just as well. Can you go look?"  
  
Midii nodded silently, though Sally was not looking at her, and gently squeezed Trowa's hand, hoping to give what comfort she could, before turning to leave the room. She moved off at a brisk jog, intent on finding the item needed as quickly as possible, wanting to be there when Trowa was brought out.  
  
***  
  
The fire was burning; its all consuming flames overtaking Triton. He knew that the gunshot he had received at some point was infected, but he had nothing that he could use to treat it. Sitting up on his bed Triton brought his wounded arm close beside him wrapping his free hand around the bloody bandage, quite easily feeling the heat through the thick cloth. He could not remember when he had come to be back in his room, but he was there now, and to his mind at that moment it really made no difference.  
  
The lights in his room were dimly lit lending dark shadows to every corner of his small quarters. They made him uneasy, making him feel as though there were others there with him, and his skin began to crawl. He blamed that feel upon the fever that was wracking his body, and no matter how he tried to shake it, the sense would not leave him. At one point he thought he could feel a ghost like hand touch his cheek, and yet another apparition grip the hand of his wounded arm.  
  
Unable to take it any longer he jumped to his feet, forcing himself to pace the length of the room, in the hopes that that would take his mind off the sensation of another's presence. His right arm throbbed painfully with each step, but he pushed on, not feeling comfortable enough to stop. Triton's body was exhausted, and he shivered in a cold that touched only him, however still he continued to walk; though his steps were short, and terribly slow.  
  
***  
  
Sally smiled in satisfaction, as she hacked her way through the last blockade stopping her from shutting the virtual reality down; bringing them that much closer to freeing Trowa. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Midii walk back in pushing a gurney right beside the table that Trowa was strapped too. Her face looked really worried, as though she was just barely managing to hold herself together. Sally was glad that Heero had insisted on the sedative, though by now it was more than likely wearing off, however it probably did not matter.  
  
Standing Sally crossed the short distance to Trowa's side, where Midii stood anxiously, "We can shut it down now," she almost whispered, feeling that raising her voice, would shatter the moment stealing Trowa away from them.  
  
"How?" she asked looking up, face showing more hope than Sally had seen in a long time.  
  
"Just one second, I want to sedate him if I can," Sally glanced about the room, looking for the supplies that she needed before they could continue forward. She found it quickly, knowing that the men of the base would have been truly foolish not to have something strong around, when dealing with Gundam pilots.  
  
Midii shook her head, "Is that really necessary?"  
  
"We have no idea how he's going to react, I'd prefer to have him in a controlled environment, when he wakes," she searched quickly though the cabinet, finding the drug that she needed. Taking the small jar and a syringe, she moved back over to the wounded pilot's side. "Alright, you can turn the system off, by flipping the switch by his head," Sally instructed Midii, as she calmly prepared the syringe, she herself feeling anything but calm.  
  
The small blond woman, did as she had been told, coming to a stop by Trowa's head, and without a moment of hesitation, flipped the switch. Nothing seemed to change outward, and Sally waited not realising that she was holding her breath, as she motioned for Midii to remove the goggles that blinded Trowa.  
  
***  
  
Everything had gone black, it had come on suddenly with no warning, and no explanation for what had happened. For an instant he thought that he had gone blind, but that simply did not make any sense, besides it was not like his vision had failed, more it felt that the entire world had fallen away, as though it never existed. He fought against the panic that threatened to over take him, as the world in which he lived merely disappeared, as though it had never been.  
  
Slowly he became aware of something beyond the blackness, something of substance, a world that had been hidden from him before. He could sense the presence of others, as he could before the world had been destroyed. But it was more definite this time, no longer did they have the feel of ghosts, quite the opposite, he could hear the sound of them breathing, so very close by. He tensed at that feeling, the need to defend himself from these unknown assailants, however he became aware of shackles holding both his wrist and ankles in place.  
  
Forcing himself not to panic, Triton could only wonder what had happened, he wanted desperately to see, and understand, but still the blackness covered his eyes. He could feel one of those present lean closer, "You're back." came a whispered voice from the blackness, sounding like an angel's song in his ears. It was then he felt cool fingers brush against his head as the darkness was removed and light filled his vision.  
  
Triton squinted against the brightness that filled his vision, feeling just as vulnerable in the light as he had in the shadow. Several moments passed before he could see clearly what was around him. Now true confusion over took his fevered mind, he was not within his room, but some strange place he knew he had never been before, nor did he have any idea how he had come to be in this place. His eyes focused in on one of those present, seeing her for the first time, though for some reason her features seemed familiar to him, but he could not say from where.  
  
He wanted to demand information, who were they, where was he, but his throat would not respond, he could only watch as the woman moved in. It was then that he noticed she held within one hand a syringe, the sight of that hated object caused him to tense even further. He wanted to struggle against the bonds that held him, but he already knew they would not give, he just was not strong enough to break them. The woman seemed to notice his distress, and spoke in a reassuring voice, "It's alright, just relax, I just need to run a few tests," her voice sung within his mind, reaching, trying to draw up memories that he did not have.  
  
It was not the voice that he had heard at first, and he did not fully trust what it said, however the look that the woman directed towards him, and the way in which she carried herself-in a very non-threatening manner-did help him to relax a little. His eyes watched her warily as she took hold of his arm and inserted the needle's point through the material of his clothing and into his shoulder.  
  
Almost instantly he could feel the drug flow through his system, and as it began to take its effect, the other woman entered his fast blurring vision. Her features were brilliant before his eyes, like a blond angel she smiled down at him with a gentle, heart-warming smile that seemed reserved for him and him alone, something that seemed reserved for him and him alone. Though how that could be he did not know, he had never met her before. "I'm so glad you're back." she whispered for him alone to hear, her smile becoming dazzling. It was the last thing that he saw before his body gave in to the drug.  
  
Thanks for reading ^_^  
  
Morganeth Taren'drel 


	12. chapter 12

centeruNanashi/u/Center  
  
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AN: Well here's more ^_^ as promised, not sure how long it will be until chapter 13 (not nearly as long as it took for 11 I can promise you that) but I'm getting into some difficult descriptions. Silly Trowa and his being hard to fix! My warning to all of you now is never NEVER! Put a character in VR ^_^ thanks to all of you who reviewed I was so shocked to see people were still reading this story ^_^/br  
  
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cmquietone: Thanks you so much for the review! ^_^ I'm going to do my best to be nice to poor Trowa, but it's a little hard at times…can't say to much, but no worries this will have a happy ending ^_^ I like happy endings ^_~/br  
  
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Chibi Menchi: I'm so glad you're enjoying this…truth be told I've wanted to take it down a number of times ^_^ but I've made promises to people that I will finish it…so finish it I will ^_^/br  
  
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Midii Une: And a HUGE thank you to you Midii!!!! Couldn't have put this chapter out so fast if it hadn't been for you're quick editing!!! ^_^ you're the greatest!!! ^_^/br  
  
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Narijima: Thanks, I'm not sure how many chapters I have left in this stories but there is definitely more to come, and hopefully faster than I usually work ^_~/br  
  
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Disclaimer: don't own…how simple is that? ^_~/br  
  
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centeruChapter 12/u/center/br  
  
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Midii looked up at Sally, tears standing out in her eyes, -we have him- was all she could think, he was back with them. For several minutes she just stared at him, fixing his appearance in her mind, a part of her unable to believe that they had finally got him back. "Come on Midii, we need to get moving," Sally cut into her thoughts gently. Shaking her head to bring herself back to the present she merely nodded in agreement, as they began unbinding Trowa's wrist and ankles. /br  
  
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Sally moved to Trowa's head, slipping her hands underneath his shoulders, "Take his feet, we'll do this on three."/br  
  
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"Alright," Midii said, taking hold of his legs, "One…two…three," as one they managed to lift the wounded pilot enough to transfer him to the gurney. With that done they quickly moved out of the room, with the halls secure and empty there was nothing standing in their way./br  
  
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The doctor brought the communicator to her lips as they moved, "Heero, we have him, we're on our way out."/br  
  
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"Right," was the next to emotionless reply, it was clear though that Heero was relieved./br  
  
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"How is he?" Duo demanded, voice sounding more than worried./br  
  
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Sally looked over the wounded pilot, "Not terrible, but not good either, he's suffering from some form of infection. It's not life threatening, at least not right now. But, I need to look after him as soon as possible."/br  
  
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"This base was completely equipped to look after the soldiers, there should be an ambulance outside," the Wing pilot filled in./br  
  
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Midii glanced back at Sally, "I remember seeing one on the way in."/br  
  
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"Okay, Heero we'll take him there, meet us when you're done," She was about to put the communicator down when she remembered something, "What about Alex?"/br  
  
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"We need to finish securing this base. It's going to take a little longer, Alex will take you where you need to be, we'll end things here up here," Wufei assured./br  
  
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"Alright," Sally placed the small item back into her pocket and picked up her pace, pushing the gurney before her. Midii jogged along beside them, face locked onto Trowa's. It was such a relief to have him back with them, however Sally could not ignore the dark shadows that lingered over everything, was he truly with them? The last they had seen of Trowa he had been calling himself Triton, and had sworn to kill them all, and he almost succeed with Quatre. Still could succeed, she mentally corrected, the gentle pilot was still fighting for every inch of his life./br  
  
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A large part of her wanted Midii to be prepared for what could possibly be the biggest disappointment of her entire life, but she could not bring herself to speak. There was still hope; there was always hope. She could not begin to comprehend all that she would need to do in the next few weeks, Sally's thoughts kept roaming, and it was an effort to keep them on the here and now. If Trowa did not remember who he was, there was nothing she could do about it now; it was not what mattered most at this moment./br  
  
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They exited the building into the deep night, Sally's eyes darted about searching for the ambulance that Midii had seen, "There it is," the small blond said with some relief, as they made their way towards it./br  
  
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"Sally! What took you?!" Alex, came running up from wherever he had been waiting, his footsteps echoed in the otherwise silent parking lot, though it no longer mattered now./br  
  
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The doctor turned to him; "It was not the easiest mission, we need you to drive that ambulance."/br  
  
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"Sure no problem," he said quickly walking along beside them, "How is he, will he be alright?"/br  
  
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"He should be, we'll know better what happened when he wakes," Sally pulled the gurney to a stop outside the back doors of the ambulance, and moved forward to open the doors with Midii's help. Alex walked around to the driver's side door without comment. Between the two of them they managed to get the gurney up into the back, slipping in last as Sally pulled the doors closed./br  
  
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"Damn it!!! No keys!!!" Alex fumed in the front seat./br  
  
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Sally came towards him, "Can you hotwire it?" /br  
  
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"Of course! It'll just take me a minute or two," he said looking over to her, then glancing at Trowa's unconscious form./br  
  
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"Alright do it, we'll get started on him," the soldier nodded once before popping the hood and getting out. Sally wasted no time getting back to Trowa's side, and sat down on the bench, "You're not squeamish are you?"/br  
  
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"No, how can I help." /br  
  
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"Just do what I tell you," Sally commented as she began undoing the suit that he was in. She unzipped it to mid abdomen, and with Midii's help they managed to slip his shoulders and arms out of the tight material. "Well this answers the question of where the infection started," Sally sighed, taking Trowa's right arm in her hand. Heat radiated from the skin around and beneath the bandage. "I need scissors, and a scalpel if you can find one." /br  
  
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The blond woman nodded silently, and quickly began her search of the ambulance; Sally turned about pulling drawers opened on her side. It did not take long for the items to be found. With a steady hand she cut away the bloodied bandage, and pulled it off the wound. She vaguely heard Midii gag beside her, what lay beneath the cloth was not a pretty sight, but it was hardly worse than other injuries she had treated over the years. /br  
  
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It was a gunshot wound, and by the looks of it, no one had bothered to remove the bullet or even clean it. The skin about the injury was an angry red, and filled with pus. Sally did not hesitate, but broke the scalpel out of it's protective plastic and began slicing the skin about the bullet, to clean out what of the infection she could. "They didn't care what condition he was in…" she vented while working./br  
  
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"You'd think they would," Midii said softly, "After all they were trying to use him for their own purpose."/br  
  
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"Yes that's true, who knows…" she trailed off for a moment, "We'll have to ask Duo once they get back."/br  
  
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The driver side door opened again, and Alex hopped in, "It'll just be a second now, where do you want me to take you? The hospital that Quatre's at?"/br  
  
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"No!" Midii blurted out, the tone of her voice causing both of them to look at her in astonishment./br  
  
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"Why not?" questioned Sally, as she did the best she could to clean the wound./br  
  
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The small woman sighed, "Trowa's been in sterilised rooms for a while now, the last thing I want is for him to wake up in another. You can look after him in the house can't you?" she sounded almost desperate./br  
  
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Sally considered this for a moment, "Yes I could…" she began slowly, "I'll need some supplies from the hospital though," she directed that part towards Alex./br  
  
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"Just tell me what you need and I'll go get it once you're at the house," he was working with the wires under the steering column while he spoke, and seconds later the engine roared to life. "Got it!" Alex smiled over to them./br  
  
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"Good, let's go," Sally responded with half her attention on the syringe she was preparing for the wounded pilot laying before her. It only took her a moment to administer the antibiotic, and once that was completed her attention was once more on the wound. She needed to remove the bullet from his arm and by the looks of it, the bullet was still imbedded in the bone. /br  
  
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"I need more light," she mumbled more to herself than the small woman sitting beside her, but Midii heard, and soon the area she had been examining was brightly illuminated. Searching in the drawers behind her, Sally quickly located and removed the items that she would need to remove the bullet and close the wound. She lay the plastic covered implements on Trowa's chest and looked to Midii. "Hand me what I ask for," Sally directed. The smaller woman nodded without a word./br  
  
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Working together as the ambulance drove them back to the house they had been staying at, Sally managed to remove the bullet, which was plaguing Trowa's health. "Will he be alright?" Midii asked as Sally's hands expertly stitched the wound closed. For the first time since they had regained their lost friend Midii sounded truly unsure. /br  
  
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"He'll recover from the gunshot wound," Sally began, washing away the fresh and dried blood with an alcohol-soaked cloth. "What I'm really worried about is he thinks he's Triton Bloom."/br  
  
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"How could they even have known about that? None of you did?"/br  
  
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"No we didn't but it was somewhere buried in Trowa's memories, and there's no telling when such memories can be brought out." She sighed raking a tired hand through her hair, "What I really want to know is, how sure is he?"/br  
  
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Midii tore her eyes away from her fallen love's face; "Do you mean how sure he is of being Triton Bloom? He couldn't possibly have forgotten all of us. Could he?"/br  
  
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"The possibility is very likely…Trowa would never have shot Quatre…" Sally fought the urge to sigh again, this was not at all what she had expected. "But right now I need to get his fever down," she said by way of focusing her thoughts on something other than this seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Midii's features were pale; Sally could not miss the change from the girl's usual brightly smiling face. She silently prayed they would be able to bring Trowa back./br  
  
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Fire burned from everywhere; there was no way to escape its searing fingers, as they clawed at him, trying to pull him in. Breathing was a battle as he fought the flames for oxygen, struggling to remain alive in a world of nothingness. They blessedly came and went, on the winds of a cool breeze felt upon his scorched forehead. He found himself in the deepest blackness longing for that seemingly magical touch, the only thing capable of fighting off the all-consuming fires. As ages came and went, and it felt as though no time had passed, he slowly became aware, sensing his body's struggle as it thrashed apparently of its own accord./br  
  
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He could feel the ponderous weight of blankets upon his body, and it was too much for him, he tried to shrug them off, yet his body did not possess the strength. With eyes too heavy to open he groaned in frustration, the sound reaching his ears as a dry and raspy croak. Without warning the blankets were drawn back, bearing his burning body to the cool air. Almost instantly he began to shiver, but it was a welcomed relief from the living flames. /br  
  
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At times he was almost positive he had heard voices, though he knew not what they said to him, or if they were even real. He let it wash past him, not caring about their potential importance. One voice among the others pulled at him, whispered secret things, which he almost wished to know. Something deep within his soul tugged whenever he heard the speaker, and he spent much time pondering at it. It was as though he floated, held down to nothing, not even the body he sometimes felt, fighting against some unknown assailant. Yet when she spoke—he was almost positive it was a she—he suddenly found himself tied into this struggling body./br  
  
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He wanted to call out to her, see her face, discover what it was that effected him so; but he could not gain mastery over his errant body, all the while nothing more than a mere passenger. Having no way of knowing the true passage of time, he began to notice the changes in himself. Slowly the flames did recede, though not aided by that magical touch. And as sleep and dreams returned so too did strength and an interest in the world around him. /br  
  
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With frustratingly slow movements he opened his eyes, seeing the room about him for the first time. It took several moments for his eyes to focus, and he felt dangerously vulnerable during that time, despite the fact that had anything been going to happen to him, it already would have. When finally he could see, shock met him. The room was nothing that he expected it to be, having grown and lived among Spartan accommodations; these excessive fineries were loud to his eyes. It was an effort as his body felt as though it was weighted with lead, but he pushed himself up, trying to gain a better view of the room surrounding him./br  
  
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Sweat soaked his shirt, and as his one hand lightly touched at the damp material, he noted the IV dripping clear fluids into his body. ~iWhere am I?/i~ he wondered silently, eyes scanning the room with a clearer head behind them, but he could find no answers. A door at the end of his bed opened, and all of his attention was firmly locked upon the one who entered. It was a woman, perhaps a few years older than himself. She wore a white lab coat, signalling to him that she was some form of medic or technician, in either case he did not trust her./br  
  
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"I'm glad to see you're awake…" she breathed, coming to a spot at the foot of his bed, a wan smile touching her features./br  
  
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"Who are you? And where am I?" he managed to demand despite his dangerously dry throat. /br  
  
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"My name is Sally Po, and you are in a secured location," she told him simply enough./br  
  
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Although her answer had been forthright, he did not trust her, something about this did not seem right. Yet so much of the last few days? weeks? had been a complete blur to him, he could only remember brief flashes. "I've never heard of a Sally Po," he growled, eyes narrowing suspiciously./br  
  
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That ghost of a smile returned, "That doesn't surprise me. There were a lot of medics at the base, and you were not one of my patients."/br  
  
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"Tell me where I am?"/br  
  
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Sally took a step towards him, causing his body to tense, "I've told you already, you're in a secured location, Draken thought it best you be moved. I was sent along to tend to you, you received a gunshot wound several days ago, do you remember that?"/br  
  
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"Wh…" confusion, and frustration filled him in turns, at her continued evasive answers. Nevertheless his mind did become aware of a dull ache radiating from his right arm. Glancing over his eyes were met with thick bandages surrounding the upper part of his arm. So that much of what she said was true./br  
  
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"You developed a rather nasty infection in the wound, and I've been fighting it for several days. How do you feel now?" Sally had come around to the side of the bed, and seemed ready to sit upon the edge, but held herself back at the last minute. /br  
  
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"Fine," he answered roughly, eyes wanting to drop into a glare. /br  
  
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"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to look you over and make sure," she said. He opened his mouth to object, not wanting this woman any closer to him, but she had been ready for that. "This is standard procedure, as I'm sure you're more than aware."/br  
  
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Caught by the truth of her words, he nodded his head, though his face lost none of its wary light. Sally took a seat upon the edge of the bed, and lifted his left wrist into her warm hand glancing at her watch to time his pulse. It was an effort to resist the urge to pull the hand away but somehow he managed. "Just relax," she bade softly pulling a penlight from her coat pocket and flashing it briefly across his eyes./br  
  
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The rest of her examination went without incident; he never took his eyes off Sally as she worked, and he answered her question with as few words as possible. It struck him suddenly like a punch to the gut, that this somehow felt familiar, as she was rebinding his right arm. The thought was like a piece of brittle glass, and as he reached for it, it shattered. However he did know it was not just this position—being tended to by a medic, something that had happened more than once in his life—no it was the woman./br  
  
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His eyes studied her intently, though he was trying not to make it obvious. He was positive he had never been near her before, so the question was, what was so familiar? Trying to see it from more than one angle did nothing to help him find answers, and he found his frustration returning. Despite his best efforts to keep his searching secret Sally noticed, and her eyes locked on his face. "Do I remind you of someone?" she asked innocently, though the words almost seemed tinged with…hope./br  
  
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This was making progressively less sense to him, and he was having a hard time reigning in his anger. "No," he answered, his tone sounding bitter, "Are iyou/i sure I've never seen you before?" he could not help but question in return./br  
  
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Something flashed within her eyes at that, but it was gone too fast for him to name it, "You, yourself said you didn't know me…" she trailed off as though hoping he would add to that in some way./br  
  
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"I…know…" he stared openly at her face, trying to grasp that which would not come within his reach ~iWho is she?!/i~ His left hand made its way to his forehead, as he shut his eyes, trying with every ounce of his strength to answer his question. "Who are you!!" /br  
  
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"Shh…" she soothed, resting a hand lightly upon his shoulder, "It will come back to you…I didn't think you had suffered a head injury…can you tell me your name?"/br  
  
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His head shot up at that, and his eyes flickered dangerously to her hand touching him, she withdrew it, and he answered. "Triton Bloom…"/br  
  
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An alternate emotion than the first nameless one passed across her eyes then, and he wanted to reach out and shake the answers out of her. "Triton," she seemed to settle on the name, "I can tell you want answers but I'm not sure you're ready to hear what I have to say…" An alternate emotion than the first nameless one passed across her eyes then./br  
  
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Triton's head shot up then, and he knew his eyes were burning intensely, "Tell me what you know!" he demanded./br  
  
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Sally watched him for several moments; it was obvious a part of her wanted to speak, yet she still hesitated. The battle was quickly won, and the medic came to her feet and walked to a small table resting not far from his bed. "What do you remember of Trowa Barton?"/br  
  
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"He was a terrorist," Triton told her darkly, something in him instantly becoming defensive at the mention of that name./br  
  
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"And what happened to him?"/br  
  
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"I killed him," this should all have been common knowledge to someone who worked with the organisation./br  
  
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She came back over carrying a folder in one hand and something he could not quite make out in the other. Without a word she handed him the folder, which he quickly flipped open. It was information on Trowa Barton, including a picture; it was a face he remembered well, the shock, which had lined it at the moment of his death. He turned his attention towards Sally; "I know all this."/br  
  
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Hesitating, her fingers brushed along the edges of the other item she held, before she finally passed it to him. Triton took the object and looked at it, seeing nothing but a matte black rectangle, his fingers noticed the change in texture from front to back, and he flipped the rectangle over. What his eyes saw stopped his breath, and stole all the feeling from his body. The mirror dropped from nerveless fingers, to lay in his lap, and although he could no longer see into it, what he had seen was forever etched into his mind./br  
  
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"I…it's…not possible…" his voice trembled, eyes still seeing the face of Trowa Barton staring back at him from the reflective surface. "It… can't be!"/br  
  
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"I'm sorry Trowa--"/br  
  
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"I'm not him!!" Triton barked harshly, "I killed him!!"/br  
  
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"But surely you remember…" Sally pleaded./br  
  
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"I remember him dying at my feet! What have you people done to me?!"/br  
  
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Tears stood out at the edges of her large eyes, "We've done nothing to you Trowa," she rushed on not letting him cut in. "It was Draken who did this, he's made you forget…but you must remember some things, you recognised me…"/br  
  
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"I refuse to believe this!" he cried shaking his head, as a trembling hand reached down to throw the offending object across the room, and it shattered like his memories so long ago…/br  
  
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"Trowa I…" Sally reached out a hand for him but did not touch./br  
  
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"Get out of here!!" he roared with all his strength, his entire body shaking, not accepting any of this. Curling in on himself Triton tried not to think; to forget what he had seen, but it was no use. He lay there on his side in a tight ball willing himself to slip into oblivion and escape from all this, and was not aware when Sally finally left./br  
  
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center***/center/br  
  
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Sally dropped against the door, no longer able to hold back, she did not however allow herself this weakness for long. Nothing could be accomplished with tears; they had to discuss what next to do, to help bring Trowa back. His vague remembrance of her was enough to assure Sally, the memories were still there, they only needed to be drawn out. Scrubbing the tears from her eyes the doctor strode down the hall, towards the room where the others patiently waited for word on Trowa's condition. /br  
  
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It had not been easy to convince them it would be better if just she went in when Trowa woke. Midii more than the others objected to this plan, but everyone wanted to see that he was alright. She had wanted to ease him into the information as much as possible, but that had just not been possible; she had been unable to keep up the charade. It would have helped greatly to know what had caused him to fall in on this new name, but he was not likely to talk now leaving them with few options. /br  
  
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She took a moment outside the living room to collect her thoughts and school her features; she wanted to carefully discuss this before she had them racing to Trowa's room. They were all on edge, what with this and Quatre, it was the proverbial worst case scenario, the young blond had slipped into a coma, and was not showing any signs of improvement. Sally forced the thoughts from her mind, she needed to stay focused on the one thing she might just be able to change, though even that was not looking all together promising./br  
  
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Walking into the silent room, Sally instantly felt all eyes locked on her, and she quickly closed the door behind her, and leaned against it. Midii was on her feet instantly; "Sally?" she questioned her tone of voice conveying what she could not find words for./br  
  
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"He's awake," she began softly./br  
  
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"And?" Duo prompted./br  
  
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"He truly thinks he's Triton Bloom…" pulling a hand down her face Sally continued, "Not all hope is gone. He does seemed to have some feelings of remembrance at least…"/br  
  
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"What do you mean?" Heero asked, his face calmly stoic, though his eyes were betraying just how much he wanted good news./br  
  
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"He thought we had met before, but as Triton Bloom, he's never seen me before in his life."/br  
  
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Midii was shaking her head, "I don't understand how he could think this…Triton was his name as a child right?" Sally nodded in response, "Wouldn't he have a blank gap where all his memories of Trowa should have been?"/br  
  
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"It was easy for Draken to create memories for Trowa when he was in VR, with no way to tell he wasn't in reality, it was all to easy for him to fall into this alternate persona." The doctor looked tiredly from one face to another./br  
  
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Duo was drumming his fingers on a table, unconsciously signalling his discomfort; "Does he know he's Trowa?"/br  
  
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"Yes…I guess…" she glanced away remembering the looked on the former pilots face when he looked into the mirror./br  
  
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"How'd he take it?" Wufei inquired, speaking for the first time./br   
  
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"About as good as you could expect when you're looking at the face of a man you killed and has no part of you…" Silence fell upon the room then, as it hit home for all of them, just what they were up against. "If only we knew what caused him to run from Trowa…"/br  
  
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"Well how should we proceed from here?" The Chinese man voiced the question they all wanted answered. And it was just the one Sally didn't think she could answer./br  
  
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She sighed, "Honestly, I'm not sure. I've never dealt with anything like this before…"/br  
  
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"We should talk to him," Heero suggested, what else was there to do?/br  
  
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"You didn't see his face Heero…I don't think talking is going to help, he's completely lost right now."/br  
  
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"I have to see him."/br  
  
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All eyes turned to Midii, "I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Sally said finally./br  
  
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"I think I have too…" she never raised her voice above a half whisper, but there was something in the tone that pulled at them all, and convinced Sally to step away from the door./br  
  
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Thanks for reading, I've got in the habit of giving you readers a little taste of the next chapter…unfortunately I don't have anything prepared right now…but you have certainly look forward to cuteness between Midii and Trowa ^_^/br  
  
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Morganeth Taren'drel/br 


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